Alien - Nemesis
by Captain Tazer
Summary: Sequel to 'Prodigals': Ripley is succumbing more and more to the ferocious alien part of her physiology, making her quite rampaging and uncontrollable. Meanwhile a new batch of the alien species is discovered, along with a little girl long believed to be dead. See full summary inside. Rated "T" for bad language and violence. Completed.
1. The raid

Sequel to 'Alien: Prodigals'. It is advisable to read that story before taking on this one.

Since the destruction of the _Auriga_, the science vessel on where she was reborn, Ellen Ripley have begun a self-appointed mission to eradicate every single trace and records of the monster that was the cause of her death two-hundred years earlier. But her quest causes her to lose her humanity to the alien part of her physiology which has become a permanent addition to her cloned genetic make-up. Slowly turning more wild and aggressive, she is becoming more like the beast that was her nemesis, and the crew of the _Betty_ is at loss how they can help her regain the morality that was once her greatest strength. So, when the superiors of the scientists responsible for her resurrection finds a surviving source of the xenomorphic life-form on the same planet where they were first discovered, the question rises if Ripley will attempt to eradicate the monsters, or if she will join them and completely abandon her last shred of humanity. Little do any of them know that a little girl of Ripley's past lies frozen and abandoned on that planet as well, forgotten by both time and people…

Disclaimer: I do not own the Alien franchise and I am not making any money publishing this story. It does not belong to the official storyline; it is simply written as a tribute to the characters and shared between me and the people who love them and wish to see more adventures.

Enjoy the story...

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Legends were usually sprung from historical facts of different events in the past, but sometimes legends could also be born from made-up stories. If it was told in a good-fashioned manner, it could be allowed to become a good tale told over campfires and afterwards it was up to the listener whether to believe in it or not.

The Wal-Mart Corporation was in itself a legend since it was hundreds of years old as a business company. There were no stories of that name told over campfires, but there were rumors that they held several classified secrets in their files and stock-houses - collections that they had bought out from several takeovers during the centuries that had passed. Whatever those secrets were, it was rather those that gave a good tale to tell and make legends from, and it was probably due to those tales that Wal-Mart had a rather violent visit by a different kind of legend…

The alarms blared loudly throughout the whole building and every security guard on duty rushed to their respective posts. Several of the clerks and high-ranked executives attempted to call for assistance of the law-enforcement officers from the local authorities in the neighbouring areas, but all of them found that the communication lines were either scrambled or dead. They had always known that the day would come when they were going to suffer an attack of some kind – competitors and company spies were not above doing violent strikes if they felt that they were facing impossible odds on the market which they could not cope with. Business were sometimes a harsh play and the wealth of a good business transaction was the grand price. If a player was felt to be too strong to compete with, it was not uncommon that somebody would attempt to take that competitor out of the field. The executives of Wal-Mart had long been prepared for it – they stood ready to retaliate with defensive armaments on the outside perimeter and their computers had up-to-date counter-attack software uploaded that was ready to be transmitted should somebody try to hack into the system. Any attempt to enter their network without their permission would result in the hacker's own computer to get fried by a feed-back spike.

Today those countermeasures turned out to be worthless though: Wal-Mart wasn't under attack by competitors or company spies – they were ambushed by a small band of pirates.

The ship came first. It had earlier been picked up by the monitors and had failed to respond to any hails – that's when the computer-jockeys were first put on alert. Their job was to locate the slave-circuit of the approaching vessel and activate the cruise-override. In the twenty-fourth century, the law entitled every airborne vehicle to be equipped with a slave-circuit should the need to seize control of a ship by remote come up, either in docking-procedures during a systems-fail or to fend off a possible terrorist attack. Once a connection was established, the controller would get full information of ship-registration and crew-complements, and then it would be up to the lawyers to file a formal charge against the aggressors. But no slave-circuit could be found within this vessel and that led to only two possibilities. The first thought was that the ship was a military vessel which would not allow a civilian program to access their systems - but that possibility was quickly discarded. No military would do an unsanctioned attack of any kind to a civilian establishment just out of the blue. If the military was after something, they would simply use their authority to confiscate it first under the decree of national security. But no such threat hanged over Wal-Mart, so it had to be possibility number two they were faced with: a rogue, unregistered ship was on approach – a ship built in an era before slave-circuits were applied, manned by a crew of outlaws. That's when the outside defense force was scrambled. The people of the defense team quickly set up a perimeter that matched military precision – a number of trucks rolled out and dropped off several piles of sandbags in a ring around the front of the building and machineguns mounted on tripods were quickly positioned behind those. They were ready to receive the aggressors.

The approaching craft was old, battered and quite ugly, but it was highly maneuverable. As soon as it came in over Wal-Mart's grounds, it halted in midair and hovered over the heads of the security personnel. Gunshots from the ground were fired, but then the ship dropped several canisters from its hold that cracked open as they hit the tarmac and the people on the ground-level found themselves within a vapor-cloud of anesthetic gas. That move had been unexpected, so none had time to put on a gasmask - they all dropped like flies.

The jet-streams from the ship dispersed the sleeping-cloud as it descended closer to the ground, which effectively helped to clear the air from the gas-vapor by the time the ship touched down and the pirates disembarked to immediately rush towards the main entrance of the building.

It wasn't possible for the assaulters to gain entry into the foyer. As soon as the alarm went off and the outside response team had been neutralized, thick security shields had fallen down from inside the concrete walls and blocked every door and window. There was no way for any pirate to break through solid steel – at least not in theory. It turned out that the pirates were well prepared as well as quite resourceful.

One man went up to the blast-shield first and placed a shaped charge against the steel. It wasn't detonated though. If they attempted that while the bomb was sitting plainly out in the open, the explosive charge would just be directed outwards and hardly make a dent in the protective barrier. But now the pirates took the sandbags that had been positioned earlier on the perimeter and they carried those over to the entrance and began to pile them against the shield.

From the central observations lounge within the building, the C.E.O. of the Wal-Mart office Derek Miller was watching what was happening outside on a monitor that right now showed the images via an external camera.

"What are they up to now?" Miller directed this question towards his head of security, struggling to keep his voice in check so that he would not reveal to the employees around him how nervous he really was. "Surely they don't think that a pile of sandbags will help them blast through eight inches of steel?"

"It might, Sir." the chief said through gritted teeth. "They're attempting to use that stack of sacks as a concussion wall to direct the blast against the shield. Whoever those pirates are, at least some of them know a thing or two about explosive directional stress mechanics!"

"Haven't you made contact with the local authorities yet?" the C.E.O. nearly roared at the computer personnel. "We need assistance!"

"I'm sorry, Sir," one responded apologetically. "All the lines are still jammed."

The executive turned back to the monitor. "Is it possible that they can break through the shield?" he asked his security chief.

"They will need to somehow fixate the sacks in position before they set off the bomb or the blast will hurl the sacks away from the shield in every direction," the other replied. "Hopefully it should do nothing more but to bulge the steel inwards and keep preventing the pirates from getting in. It all depends on how far their knowledge goes." They watched on the screen how the pirates continued to carry the sandbags over to the growing pile at the entrance. The sacks were so heavy that it required atleast two men to carry each one, but to the head's silent astonishment, one of them was able to carry a sack all by herself. The receiving picture was bad quality, but that one person definitely looked slender enough to be a woman.

The chief looked a little closer at the pile. Two of the pirates who looked like each was a twin of the other had stopped carrying bags and was instead building a crude fence-like structure to enclose the pile against the shield. They braced the whole rig to the pile with supportive beams which they anchored to the tarmac. The security chief looked over to his boss. "Yep. That'll do it!" he said with complete assurance to the outcome.

"And they're using my own sandbags to do this breaking and entering!" Miller bursts out totally frustrated. "This is _intolerable!_ What are we going to do?"

"Only one thing to do:" the chief said calmly, raising a radio to his face. "I'm telling the men in the lobby to take cover and to cover their ears. There's quite a big bang coming up – and that they're about to be engaged in a firefight."

The head of security's instruction was issued a little too late: the guards that were posted on the far back of the foyer managed to find shelter in time – but the ones positioned closest to the entrance were swept off their feet as the door blew and they were rendered unconscious. The explosion was so powerful that it shook the foundations of the whole building.

From the smoking remains that was once the main entrance and a blast-shield made of steel, three pirates rushed in with weapons blazing. The main aggressor of that first wave came in grinning – a hideous looking grin because of the ragged scar that crossed his face.

"You didn't invite us, so we _crashed!_" he shouted, laughing. It wasn't like the remaining security troopers could hear what he said as their ears were ringing badly after the loud boom. From behind the laughing man and the twins, another person came in through the cloud of smoke and dust. You couldn't believe that this small woman was actually a pirate: her features were delicate and soft-looking, and it was with genuine concern in her eyes that she addressed her companion:

"Just incapacitate them, Johner!" she reminded him. "Don't kill anyone; they're just doing their jobs!"

Johner turned to her with an irritated expression on his ugly face. "Get off my back, Annalee!" he growled. "It is my _job_ to hurt people!" Annalee Call knew that whenever Johner made use of her surname like that it was not a formality, but mainly to patronize her. He had no real respect for the woman and he would most likely never have any. But then again, Johner didn't exactly feel respect for anyone or anything - that was all in his nature. God, despite everything they had been through, she still loathed that man.

The security guards did not have the ability to hear right now, but they could still see their adversaries. From behind the lobby's desks that they had picked as shelters, they opened fire and forced the pirates to take cover of their own. Bullets strafed all over the foyer and kept everybody on either side pinned down where they were.

"Can anyone take them out?" Johner called over the noise.

"Negative!" one of the twins, Keevan Felger answered. "They're covering behind the corners like moles hiding in their holes. I can't get a bead on them!"

"Well then, gas ém!" Johner ordered.

"Ryan's the one carrying the gas-launcher," the other twin Naavek Felger informed the burly man.

"Well, where's _he?_"

"I think he's still outside. I didn't see him come in with us."

"That bloody coward!" Johner roared. "How does he expect to fit in with us if he's so afraid to take part of some action?" He crouched down lower as some bullets began to get too close to him.

"Johner," Call called out. "I think we may have to…" But then she stopped herself as she glanced towards the ruined entrance. "Uh–oh!"

The smoke and dust of concrete had partially cleared from the doorway the pirates had blasted through and from the rubble a new player entered, walking in without rush, but with determined strides. She stood tall, almost regal in her sleeveless leather jumpsuit. A stern face was framed by a mass of brown locks that reached below her shoulders, and her dark eyes revealed a piercing gaze from between squinted lids as she surveyed the situation, registering it all in one single sweep. Without saying a word or changing her expression, she marched passed her comrades and strode down the aisle of the lobby, totally ignorant to the fact that several flesh-piercing projectiles flew past her at a high velocity.

"Someone should tell the lady that she isn't bulletproof," the first twin said.

"Are you volunteering for that?" Johner asked. The man did not. Meanwhile Call was watching after the other woman with fear growing in her eyes – but no one knew that it wasn't the newcomer's safety she was concerned with.

The pirates could not even guess how the tall woman could walk through a vertical rain of weapons-fire without taking a single hit, and neither could the guards that were defending the facility – they would have plenty of time to ponder about it in hospital. The woman reached the receptionist's desk where two of the guards had taken shelter. She reached over the counter, grabbed the harness of the protective west carried by the first man and then she pulled him up from the floor and hurled him over her head. The unfortunate man was screaming as he flew across the room, a flight that ended abruptly when he crashed into the wall on the far side and he fell to the floor where he remained unmoving. His partner behind the desk barely had time to respond; he was adjusting his aim when the woman spun back around towards him and grabbed his rifle. She tugged it out of his hands and used the weapon as a club to hit the guard across his jaw and he too was knocked out.

There was another counter behind her on the other side of the lobby's aisle with two more guards sheltering underneath. Having witnessed what the female intruder had done to their colleagues, they deduced that she was a bigger threat than those who huddled near the entrance. They reached up over the edge of the counter and fired, but to their astonishment the woman sidestepped the strafe of bullets, moving faster than anyone could've expected a human-being to be able to.

The desk the guards crouched under was heavy – it required the manpower of several to move it. But that law of physics didn't seem to apply to the woman. She gave the counter a swift kick to make it topple – and the heavy desk flipped over and crashed down over the guards, pinning them underneath. During the whole time she had fought, her stern facial expression hadn't changed the slightest. It was like she didn't care for either victory or defeat. The guards were just obstacles that stood in her way and she simply dealt with them – harshly and without mitigation. A fifth unlucky guard was next to experience that fact.

The back-wall of the lobby had a pathway leading to the elevators. At the end of the seven-meter-long corridor another employee of the security team took cover behind the left-side corner and released several bursts of his own - but as with the others before him, he missed. The woman was still in possession of the rifle she had captured from the second guard and that she now threw like a spear down the corridor, butt-end first. Her aim was accurate with precision. The rifle hit the man square in the face just as he leaned out to release another salvo - his nose was smashed in and some teeth also got knocked out in the process. He flew backwards and became a heap on the floor, not getting up. Smoke from gunpowder hanged in the air, but the firefight had ceased. All was now calm in the lobby.

"I thought you said it was _your_ job to hurt people, Johner," the second twin stated as he watched the result of the woman's actions.

"Don't try to get smart, Felger!" the scarred man snapped.

The woman took no apparent notice of the words exchanged. She only walked down the corridor like if she was heading towards a goal known only to her.

"Wait!" Call called out after her. "There may be another…" The warning came too late. From the right-side corner at the end of the corridor a sixth guard jumped out with a raised gun and released a widespread shot at close range. The woman attempted to jump out of the way, but she had no time to do so as the attack had been so sudden. She was knocked backwards a bit as she was hit – she staggered… but she did not fall. She didn't even cry out. To the guard's astonishment she straightened up and looked down at her arm. The flesh above her left elbow had been perforated by the hailstorm of the man's shot – blood had sprayed and had splattered on the wall beside her.

Finally a reaction came from the woman, but it would have been better for the guard if it hadn't. She looked up silently and glared at him. Her face showed no trace of discomfort - instead it creased into a mask of pure rage. Before the guard had time to fire another shot, the woman was over him. A knuckle that felt as hard as steel crashed into his face, but he did not fall as she held him upright by his collar. And then she hit him again with her fist… and again… and again…

"RIPLEY!" Annalee Call, the petite woman rushed up to the taller and more powerful female and grabbed the other by her arm which she was manhandling the guard with. "_Ripley, stop it!_"

Ripley let go of the guard who crumbled beyond consciousness to the floor, but she'd let go only to grab the smaller woman by her throat, making her the target of her fury.

"Ripley… you were trying to kill that man…" Call wheezed out from under the grip on her windpipe

"He tried to kill _me!_" the other replied with a low and dangerous tone.

"Hey, Ripley. Let go," Johner said, coming towards them. "She's your friend, remember?" But he did not try to persuade Ripley any more than that. He too had experienced the taste of the woman's wrath from time to time, and he had no wish to do so again in the near future.

"Don't… sink to his level," Call choked out trying to reason with her. "Remember who… you are. Re… member your morality… Ellen!"

With a snort that resembled a sound of disgust, Ripley let go of the smaller woman and walked ahead, apparently set on following her original plan. She simply stepped over the man she had beaten, not sparing him a single glance. One of the Felger twins stepped up to Call. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, fine," she gasped. "Don't worry about it."

"Hey, Naavek," his brother Keevan said. "Look at this." The other twin was staring at the wall, on the spots where Ripley's blood had splattered. Underneath the crimson-colored fluid, the wall was bubbling and sizzling. The twins witnessed how the material melted away and left tiny holes on the surface.

"That's another thing you're going to have to get used to if you are to hang around with us." Johner said plainly, as if it wasn't a big deal.

"What… is she?"

"Why don't you ask her?" Johner replied with an evil smile, as if he was daring the young runt to do just that.

If Ripley had heard the words exchanged, which the scarred man did not doubt that she had, she gave no reply to the twins' inquiry. It was unlikely that they would ever get any answer from her. The woman had many secrets which she preferred to keep to herself, and every surviving member of the original crew of the _Betty_ knew that if any of them would happen to spill any of her private affairs to any outsider, Ripley could very likely kill the outsider and the talker both to avoid any further spread of information.

A long time ago, in another lifetime, that outcome would never have been in Ellen Ripley's nature – but her nature was a different one today, as she herself was different in every way both physically and psychologically. The cloning process that had resurrected her a little over a year ago had blended her human DNA together with the genetic make-up of the ferocious creature that had infested her body. Although she looked like one, she wasn't completely human – but that was something the Felger-twins had no need to know anything about. She tolerated them as long as they did what their special skills enabled them to do to aid her in her personal quest, but if they got too nosy in her business, then she would show no regard for their welfare. Johner was quite correct in that.

So many thoughts flashing through her mind in the blink of an eye, and yet she felt that the time was wasted. They needed to get on with what they were here to do. Ripley stood before the doors of two elevators. Turning around to face the corridor she had just passed through; she issued a command.

"Call! Hook up to the building's systems mainframe and override the elevators. I don't want the jockeys up there to halt the car and trap us as we go up to the top floors."

Call's acknowledgement was not enthusiastic. Quite the contrary, it was filled with resent. "I know the drill," she sighed. Ripley ignored the other woman's displeasure.

"And while you're at it, check up on Vriess to get a status-report from his end. Find out if Ryan is somewhere back there. For his own sake he had better take on the roll as your back-up or there will be hell to pay for his deviation from the assault."

For a brief moment, Call was envious of Vriess. The man in question was paraplegic; the whole lower part of his body was paralyzed. It wasn't the condition of Vriess that Call envied, but of the position he presently had. As Vriess was unable to walk, his job was to fly the _Betty_ and monitor all outside activities. Call smiled to herself as she knew that right now Vriess was most likely wishing that he was in her position instead - Vriess was not at all comfortable with being the ship's pilot. Right after their escape from the _Auriga_, he had been forced to take the ship down through the atmosphere of Earth as Hillard, the original pilot had been killed. Ripley had been the only one capable of flying the old craft at the time, but she'd had to abandon the chair to deal with a crisis in the cargo-hold, leaving Vriess to take the sticks - an experience that had really shook him up. He was the mechanic, not a pilot he had insisted afterwards, but Ripley made him take lessons from her during the year that had passed. That experience had also from time to time been traumatic for him. Ripley was a harsh teacher because of her unbalanced mentality, but there was no denying that she knew how to operate the ship. That was why she was the acting captain of the _Betty_ now - that, and also because none of the remaining crew had the physical power to overthrow her.

But now Call had to deal with one of her own traumas. _Trauma._ The word sounded correct to describe her current state of mind, but yet it was so wrong to use it in her case. A trauma was a human difficulty… _But I'm not human, am I?_ And true she wasn't, despite her appearance. She was in reality a construct; a synthetic. _Android. Machine. Robot._ Those were descriptions that felt so depreciatory to her to the grade that she felt hurt whenever she was reminded of it. In fact she was an Auton: a robot constructed by robots with the intent to revitalize the synthetic industry. But those Second Gen-robots were designed with too much likeness to the human psychology with high ethics and moral, and it didn't sit well with the government when the synthetics started to demand the same rights as an organic. A recall was issued which led to a revolt by the machines who didn't want to give up their lives and which in turn resulted in a massacre. Only a few of the autons escaped and went into hiding by acting like humans to avoid detection.

However Call had adapted to the life as human so much that she had almost forgotten about her past and now she felt nothing but contempt for what she really was, especially after she had received a gun-wound aboard the _Auriga_ which revealed her true nature to her companions. No matter how much the crew of the _Betty_ tried, they could not forget the fact that she was a robot and Ripley definitely would not let anyone of them forget it again as she forced Call to do some 'persuasive' actions with computers on several occasions – like now.

Call rolled up her left sleeve and revealed the fake beauty mark on her forearm – underneath the small dot in her synthetic flesh was the entry-port to her disgusting insides. She fished out some cords from her pocket. One end of the cable was plugged into the terminal of the security guard's counter, the other into her arm. She winced as the connection was made and she felt the rush of the building's data flow through her mind. It took a moment, but soon she had assumed control. She looked back towards her companions.

"I've got this. You can go. It's the top floor." That was not unexpected information. The C.E.O.s' _always_ claimed the top floor.

"As soon as we secured the area, you'll join us up there." Ripley said unnecessarily.

"I _know_ the drill." Call replied again silently. She couldn't tell if the other woman heard her, but she didn't say anything. Probably because they had other matters to attend to which took precedence. Ripley, Johner and the Felger-twins stepped inside the elevator and began the ride up. They rode the car in silence, but not without tension. The two brothers could not keep their eyes away from the woman's injured arm. In actuality, it was the _absence_ of her injury that amazed them. Her flesh had already healed over and was almost completely normal, as if she had not been shot at all.

It was Johner who finally spoke first. "Do you think we should expect a welcoming committee up there?"

"I'd be more surprised if there weren't any." Ripley replied nonchalantly.

"Then by all means…" Johner pressed himself against the wall to the side of the elevator car. "…you go first." The twins followed his example. Ripley remained on her spot, unconcerned for this 'honor' she'd been given.

Their suspicions proved to be correct - the doors had not even opened completely before another group of security guards opened fire on them. As she had done down in the lobby when she had entered the building, Ripley now exited the car with determined strides and quickly walked over towards the guards through the storm of bullets. Although they should, none of the projectiles managed to hit her as she anticipated every approaching miniature obstacle, sidestepping them faster than any could see. The security people only had time to register this impossibility for a few seconds before Ripley dealt with them as harshly as she had done with the other guards. They were four armed men against one unarmed woman, and they were seriously outnumbered. Once the matter of security personnel was dealt with and swept out of the way, the remaining three pirates came out from behind their cover now when the path was clear. They were in the visitors lounge – up ahead from the elevators was the door that led to the C.E.O.'s office.

"Shall we knock on the door?" Johner had an ill-natured grin plastered on his face. The scar made it look even more hideous.

"Why?" Ripley asked. "It's not him I'm after." The woman walked away from the main director's door and turned to another sealed entrance in the wall to her right. The plaque in the middle of the reinforced door said:

MAIN CONTROL ROOM

UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL FORBIDDEN TO ENTER

There was no visible keyhole – only a flat plate beside the doorpost that would not accept anything else but a registered keycard to unlock the way inside. The pirates had no cards at their disposal, and the unconscious guards did most likely not have clearance. But even if they did, it would be easy for the controllers inside to lock those out once they realized that the defense perimeter had been compromised. The only way to gain entrance was to blow the door, but the pirates didn't have time for that.

They were on the clock. Even though the lines from Wal-Mart to the outside were jammed, it would not go unnoticed by the local authorities for much longer. Once the radio-silence had gone far too long to be declared as a temporary malfunction, an anti-aggressor detachment would scramble to the company's aid, and the pirates did not have the means to oppose them.

As it was, Ripley neither had the time nor the patience to wait. She simply ripped off the card registration plate from the wall, stuck her hand into the hole that now had been exposed to grab hold of some cables which she snapped off as she tore the wires out. The sudden power-loss made the locks to the door inoperable, but it did not open. The security-door was too heavy to budge for any human, but Ripley no longer fitted into that category. With the help of her alien-enhanced strength, she pushed the thick steel-door aside… and then she was almost hit by a bullet shot from a gun that passed by her face so near that she could almost see it.

"That was a warning!" a voice called from inside the control room. "If you attempt to enter this area, the next shot will go right between your eyes!"

A quick peek inside told Ripley everything she needed to know; there was only one security man with a gun – probably the security chief. The man who huddled behind him was dressed in an expensive suit – that was most likely the C.E.O. whom was more concerned for his own safety rather than for anyone else's. The rest of the personnel inside were just three computer jockeys. None of them were armed, with the exception for the chief.

"Get down on the floor – facedown!" the chief barked. He was the immediate threat, but to Ripley he was but another nuisance, no worse than the other guards she had dealt with on her way here. She glanced down to the side – the card registration plate was still hanging from the wall by some wires. She grabbed it, tore off the last cables and then she threw the plate into the room. Her aim was accurate once again: the plate knocked the gun from the chief's hands, leaving him standing dumbfounded. The rest of the pirates rushed in, weapons pointing at the remaining people.

"Get away from the computers." One of the Felger's ordered. "Face the wall and stay there and you will not be harmed."

"I'm warning you!" the C.E.O. Derek Miller tried to pluck up courage. "I'm an important man! If you harm me, you'll never get out of this alive!"

"Hear mister big-shot here talking!" Johner mocked. "He says that if we hurt him, we'll get fried. Oooh, I'm so scared!"

"Some big-man." one of the brothers replied. "Says he's very important when everybody knows that this facility is just a sub-corporation to the main office in Arkansas. He's not so big."

Miller's face changed color into a shade of red in shame, but he was not ready to submit. "This act of terrorism will not gain you anything!"

"Who says we're terrorists?" Keevan shot back as he sat down by a computer. "We're here for some information, not to spread terror." He had hardly begun to tap some keys when he suddenly spread his arms in frustration. "Darn! The wise guys managed to lock down the access to the computers with a password. I can't do anything!"

"Whose arm shall I twist first?" Johner asked, indicating with a nod towards their five hostages. "Maybe I could snap some fingers to make them sing 'til they give us the password."

"Don't bother." Ripley said neutrally. "Call will be here in a few minutes. She can access the computers without the password."

"You always take away my fun!" Johner complained.

After three minutes Call did arrive with the elevator – she was alone. "I've spoken with Vriess," she said. "Everything's okay at his end."

"Where's Ryan?" Ripley asked.

"Looting the stores," the small woman said with disgust. This information angered Ripley. They weren't here to steal valuables – she was after to exterminate a threat to the galaxy.

"I gave specific orders that he was to be your back-up!"

"I told him that. He said that he didn't take orders from a woman."

"He really said that?" Naavek asked.

"Not in so few words," Call looked even more disgusted. "His exact reply was quite… vulgar."

"Well, if he isn't back aboard the _Betty_ when we're done, we'll leave him here." Everybody knew that Ripley would do it. The tall woman nodded her head towards the computers. "Do your stuff," she told the other woman. Call walked into the control room with a resigned expression on her face.

"And Call…" The small woman turned around to face the other. "Don't give me another 'I know the drill'", Ripley warned her. "I know you hate going into the systems, but get _over_ it! I don't have time for any _bullshit!_"

Call may be a synthetic, but Ripley's words hurt. She was _programmed_ to feel hurt, and even that fact stung. What was really troubling Call was that at the beginning of their friendship Ripley hadn't acted like this… so cold and dispassionate. When they had escaped from the _Auriga_ the year before, it seemed like Ripley's humanity had returned somewhat – but over the past few months, the animalistic and ferocious side of her alien half had revealed its ugly face again. And it frightened Call that Ripley probably didn't even know it. She would have to think about it later though – she had better get on with the job she was supposed to do.

Again she fished out the connection cords from her pocket and inserted it into the port inside her arm and into a USB-slot in the terminal. It had to be done up here on the top floor; the terminal down in the lobby was accessible to the mainframe of the building's service systems; ventilation, cameras, alarms, phones and other technical functions like the elevators. But you could not go into any of the archives that had to do with Wal-Marts business - that was a totally different and separate network.

Once she had plugged herself into the USB-port, she allowed the computer to try to identify the new hardware. That was the 'backdoor' she needed to sneak in through. Once inside she had gotten behind the password – it was an easy thing to decipher the correct code and disable it from there. And then she was free to search through the files. It was a tremendous amount; to Call it felt like a long time to go through all of them - but in reality she had only been inside for a few seconds. Call left the computer and returned to her own body, and she turned to Ripley with an apologetic look evident on her face.

"Nothing," she said shortly.

"What do you mean: 'nothing'?" Ripley questioned.

"What we're searching for is not filed in any of these archives and there are no physical hardware stored here either. We've drawn a blank."

"Ah, man," Johner groaned. "This is the _third_ facility we've hit!" Ripley was aware of this fact as well and it made her deeply annoyed. Her patience had been running short lately and this failure rattled noisily like a marble rolling around within an empty steel cup. Feeling the anger boil within her, she moved towards the C.E.O. who stood leaning against the wall guarded by the twins and she grabbed on to his shoulder, turning him roughly around to make him face her.

"I'm looking for the files left by Michael Weyland!" Ripley said with a hard tone. "Where are they?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Derek Miller countered. He had a self-assured façade, but he did actually feel quite intimidated.

"Don't act like you don't know anything," Ripley growled. "The Weyland-Yutani Company: does that ring any bell? I know that Wal-Mart bought out the remains of that company after it went under many years ago! Weyland's personal files were included in the transaction!"

Derek Miller remained silent. His refusal to acknowledge the facts angered her even more.

"I want all files concerning the Zeta II Reticuli system!" Ripley now demanded, but the C.E.O.'s face still showed no sign of recognition. Quite the contrary he seemed confused by this demand, and that made the woman lose her temper completely.

"I think she is starting to lose it," Naavek whispered to his brother. Keevan agreed, and Call saw it too. "Ripley…" she started, but the other woman paid no attention to her.

"_Do I have to spell it out for you?!"_ Ripley all but roared now. She grabbed on to the collar of the expensive suit and pulled Miller close face to face with her. "I want _everything_ the company ever filed about the operations on planet LV-426, from the year 2122 through 2179 and everything ever connected to it, right from the moment where the _Nostromo_ was ordered to land on that rock! You've got those files stashed somewhere! _Where are they?!"_

Miller finally found the necessity to open his mouth and give a response, although he was terrified to do so. He knew that the answer would come to cost him dearly where this crazy woman was concerned.

"You're wasting your time," he said in a defiant tone. "I don't have those files here and I don't know where they are archived! But even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you! It is company policy never to give in to terrorists!"

"That was the wrong thing to say," Keevan passed to his brother. Call gasped, knowing what would come.

"Terrorists?" Ripley spat. "_Terrorists?!_ I'm trying to save the _galaxy_, you stinking…" Enraged, Ripley raised her fist and was about to punch the C.E.O.'s face in. With the strength she fueled into her muscles, Call knew that the strike the woman was about to deliver would kill the man. Call rushed in to stop her, knowing full well that she would become the target of the other's fury instead. But she couldn't just stand by and let her become a murderer!

"_Ripley! Don't do it!_" Call grabbed on to the outstretched arm. "Don't become like _them!_ Don't become a _monster!_"

To everybody's surprise and astonishment, Ripley suddenly froze. Nobody understood why, but the woman seemed to be momentarily confused. They had no idea that Call's words had unintentionally triggered a certain memory within her.

_My mommy always said that there were no monsters. No real ones, but there are!_

The voice that played in her head was tiny – nothing more than a whisper, and yet it was quite strong. It had been with her ever since her rebirth, although it had been some time now since she had last heard it – that was why she was so surprised now as it had suddenly presented itself again, recalled by the word Call had uttered in her plead. It was the voice she always listened to.

The voice belonged to a child. A little girl named Newt.

_Little Newt._ _Her child. Her young._

No, not hers…

_**Yes, mine! My child!**_

There were mixed feelings roaming around in Ripley's body right now. Every fiber within her that was of alien origin urged her to beat this man to pulp, to punish him for standing in the way of her important mission. But there were some other instincts which now suddenly also screamed to her. Not the instincts of the aliens, not even those that were human – but those of a mother! However those instincts were giving her a tremendous agony as her body was flooded with the sweeping pain of loss – sickening, irretrievable loss.

Her arm stood still poised above the C.E.O., ready to strike – but it did not fall. Newt's tiny voice was still roaming around in her mind.

_But there are!_

Her maternal feelings were enhanced by both human and alien instincts – she felt the driving need to protect her young. _But that made no sense! Newt was dead!_ Why did she feel this powerful urge to protect her?

But then Ripley understood. The child may be gone, but her voice was still with her – the voice she always listened to! Newt had been deathly afraid of the aliens - the monsters. She would've done anything to escape them. And if Ripley would give in to the alien ferocity of her mixed physiology to kill this man, then _she_, like Call had just pointed out, would _become_ the monster. That would result in the loss of the last thing she had of Newt – the voice! Ripley would _not_ risk that – not for anything!

Derek Miller was dropped to the floor. He was quite shaken, but he was unharmed. He followed the woman with his gaze as she walked out of the control room, the woman who had been about to beat him, but in the end hadn't.

Ripley hardly looked back - she simply called over her shoulder: "Let's go. There's nothing for us here."

Her companions followed along, saying nothing. They were all unaware of what just had happened, but none of them were ever going to ask. And soon the pirates vacated the Wal-Mart's grounds in their ship, leaving it more quietly then they had come.

* * *

Author's notes: Please note that his fanfic is written mostly from how the events were described in the novelizations of the ALIEN-movies written by Alan Dean Foster (Alien, Aliens & Alien3) and A. C. Crispin (Alien Resurrection). Any inconsistencies that you may, and probably will find to the movies are therefore unintentional, unless I state otherwise. It is from there it is established that Wal-Mart were the ones who bought the remains of the Company, although I do believe it is considered cannon on the official sites as well.


	2. The Supreme Commander

The pirates were seen leaving the premises on the TV-screen, concluding the whole event that had been captured by the security-cameras. A finger pressed a button on a remote, shutting the visual device off. Then the finger's owner turned to the man on the other side of the glossy desk as he noisily and without care dropped the small control box on the smooth black surface.

"What the hell did you bring into this world, McHagen?"

The man behind the desk did not display the same emotional outburst as his visitor did. He simply pressed his fingertips against each other as he leaned back in his oversized black chair and replied with a calm, but arrogant tone.

"I resent that statement, Mr. Verheiden." Jacob McHagen's accent was British, but his ancestors were once from Scotland, hence his last name. He bore a remarkable resemblance to the actor Jonathan Pryce who had lived in the early 21: st century. "I have most certainly not brought anyone into this world. Do I look like a woman to you?" He giggled at his own joke. Malcolm Verheiden however, the top chairman of Wal-Mart of the 24: th century, did not join in on the poor attempt of humor.

"Are you seriously telling me that _you_, the supreme commander of the United Systems Military Special Research Department, wouldn't know _anything_ about that woman who was created by _your_ science team aboard the USM_ Auriga_, with the help of the files that you bought from _my company?!_"

Finally a reaction came across McHagen's face, one that showed immense anger. His eyes burned behind his round spectacles as he leaned forward over his desk and he spoke with a menacing voice: "Need I remind you that under the decree of united systems law you are _forbidden_ to utter a word about military matters that has been declared _classified?_"

Chairman Verheiden was not swayed by the threat. "Spare me the united security bullshit! I'm well aware of the non-disclosure document that my predecessor signed with the military and that I am obliged to follow it! I have no intention of letting anything we say leave this office if that's what you are so worried about! As you've noticed, I know more than you'd like to admit, so why don't we cut the crap and you start talking straight with me?"

McHagen hit a hidden button on his desk, shutting off all recording devices within the walls of surrounding glass that served as his office. He liked glass; it was clean and illuminating, and you could see outside of it while it still provided you with some privacy within those. The panes were dense and thick enough to not let any sounds through. He now leaned back in his chair, resuming his original pose before he began to speak.

"That woman was never supposed to see the light of day," the commander said. "General Perez defied my instructions during her creation. All we wanted was the creature – once it was extracted, the host was supposed to be exterminated! I don't know if he was somehow influenced by Dr's. Wren and Gediman to disobey my orders, but if he was then he has already paid the price for it. His incompetence cost him and forty other people their lives."

"I was under the impression that the host could never survive a separation from the creature, not even when surgically removed?"

"An unexpected development, I agree. Don't ask me how that was possible, I never cared to have the reports of her physiology transmitted to me from the _Auriga_." A mistake that bothered McHagen a lot. Now all of those reports have been destroyed along with the research ship when it had crashed on the surface of the Earth. "We never anticipated that she would become such a troublesome meddler to our business."

"Not just yours, but to mine as well!" Verheiden pointed out. "_More_ to mine even! I don't know how she found out that Wal-Mart bought the remains of the Weyland-Yutani Company, but she seems to be totally determined to obtain everything that was ever connected to the xenomorphs and will stop at nothing until she has found them. She and her band of pirates have broken into three of my territorial offices so far and sent several of my employees to hospital! It's a _miracle_ that none of them has been killed!" He didn't go into detail that there had been several near-death incidents and maiming, which was almost as bad. Maybe even worse in Verheiden's opinion: now he had to pay the expenses for the many cases of rehabilitation instead of life-insurances in the event of death on the job. The compensations for death to the beneficiaries were actually _cheaper_ than the rehabilitations – but that was something he never spoke out loudly about.

"I actually fail to see how her attack on your facilities is to be considered a problem of mine." McHagen told his visitor with an unfriendly smile.

"You _made_ her!" Verheiden pointed out angrily. "You let her loose, and now she is wreaking havoc on _my_ property! Why do you think I'm here? I'm looking for _compensation_ and to urge you to deal with this female menace!"

"Compensation?" McHagen laughed. "What rights do you have to claim compensation from the military because some crazy woman brakes into your facilities?"

"Didn't you listen to what I just said? You _made_ her!"

"What proof do you have to support this claim?"

"You heard her on the tape! She's after all files concerning Weyland's operations in the Zeta II Reticuli system, from the year 2122 through 2179… those are the files we sold to you! It's only from those files that you could have obtained the information to find the needs to clone a new specimen of the xenomorphs!"

"That's not proof, that is just speculations." McHagen countered. "Why would we want to clone a creature that caused the deaths of the citizens on the terraforming colony of LV-426 all those years ago?"

"You're denying the facts again!" Verheiden stated.

"Of course I do!" the commander spat in a sudden flared temper, slamming his fist on his desk. "It is expected of me!"

"I know the truth!"

"And what good is that to you?" McHagen leaned forward again. "Do you plan to expose me? Maybe I really _do_ need to remind you of that which you yourself said a moment ago: Wal-Mart signed a non-disclosure document which forbids you to utter anything about military matters that has been declared classified! Spill any syllable about it and I will charge you for treason and make you disappear… for good!"

This time the threat did shake Malcolm Verheiden up. "This was your game from the start!" he said in a shocked tone as he realized that he had been outmaneuvered. "You claimed the price and left me to hang dry!"

"That's the beauty of 'plausible denial'," McHagen said proudly. Verheiden felt all the air leaving him. How could he have been so blind to what this had finally led to? The glass-walls of McHagen's office may be transparent, but the man himself had been impossible to read correctly, his true intentions being totally impenetrable to view.

"You're just going to sit back and watch while that bastard creation of yours destroys me!"

"Stop your whining!" the commander snapped. "Despite what you might think, we are not totally ignorant to the problem! I simply wanted to make it clear to you that we will absolutely not tell the public of Ellen Ripley's origin or the military's participation of her resurrection – that is to remain 'classified'. Are we clear on that?"

"I just want her _stopped _before she ruins my company," Verheiden pointed out. "The rest of the mess is for _you_ to clean up; I'm not interested in shifting blame!"

"Good. So why don't we stop goofing around and start talking business?" McHagen gave his visitor such intent stare that Verheiden suddenly felt like the commander bore his authority directly into his mind, stating that he was in total control. "Mr. Verheiden, we are totally speaking off the record here, so why don't we put all of our cards on the table?"

"What is it you want?" Verheiden asked suspiciously.

"I want what Ripley wants," the other replied straightforwardly.

"But you already have it? You bought those files from my company years ago!"

"We both know that those only were the Weyland-Yutani Company's official history records. But I want the _unofficial_ files!"

Now Verheiden understood. "You're referring to Michael Weyland's _own_ notes. According to his will, his personal archives are not to be opened until two hundred years after his death."

"Yes. We all know that he died the year 2184 after his illness had degraded his arteries to the point where life could no longer be sustained. Quite an unpleasant way to die, don't you think?"

"Unpleasant maybe, but that has nothing to do with the fact that there is still eighteen months to go before those archives are allowed to be opened!"

McHagen snorted. "Eighteen months; give or take – who cares? What would happen if the archives happened to be opened prematurely? Would some dreadful curse fall upon us or what?"

"Weyland's last wish clearly said…" Verheiden persisted, but McHagen cut him off.

"I ask again: who cares?! Michael Weyland was the _last_ of his kin! There is no surviving relative walking around today, so who would press charges?"

"Still, the law clearly states…"

"Laws can in case of emergencies be bended if it is for the benefit of the better good!" McHagen was getting quite impatient, but he kept his voice leveled in order to convince the businessman. "Remember what you came here for, Mr. Verheiden - you're asking me to take Ellen Ripley off your back. This is the solution I'm offering you: sell the material she's hunting for to me and let it be publicly known. She will have to come after us instead in order to claim her desired price, and we have the bigger means to deal with her – the whole military army against her pitiful little band of pirates!"

"And… what kind of price are we talking about?"

"Enough to cover the expenses Ripley has cost you, like you demanded. It will all look like a business transaction and no questions regarding classified materials will be raised." From a drawer of black-coated aluminum underneath his glass desk, McHagen pulled out a written contract which he put down before his visitor. "You only need to put your signature on it."

"You have had this planned for some time now, haven't you? What do you want with Weyland's records anyway?"

"I'm convinced that if we've had access to Weyland's secret documents about the xenomorphs, the outcome on the _Auriga_ might have turned out a little differently. There might even be some kind of information in there which might help us deal with our little rogue creation."

"And what if I, in the interest of honoring Michael Weyland's wish to not let his archives be opened until after the settled date, would refuse to sell you his records?"

McHagen threw Verheiden a sharp and annoying look. "Sooner or later the United Systems Authorities will ask us, the military, to take action against Ripley as she is causing a lot of trouble. And then I will use my jurisdiction to _confiscate_ your material in order to deal with her! And you will receive no payment for them then! This, Mr. Verheiden, is your one-time opportunity. No matter what decision you take today, it will in the end be a win-win for me, and a win-lose for you!"

The chairman looked down on the presented contract overwhelmed with a conflict. For years he had been holding on to the sealed files left behind by Michael Weyland, looking forward to the day when he could finally read the secrets those notes contained.

McHagen was wrong: this wasn't a win or lose-situation for Verheiden – he would lose either way. The secrets of those documents were meant to give his company a new uplift. Despite being a domestic company with offices all over the globe, business had lately started to go bad. It had gotten worse even, as the premiums had gone up considerably when the insurance company had learned that a small band of pirates had managed to break into facilities that was claimed to be impenetrable. Their reputation had gotten quite a severe stab in the side because of that. Weyland's personal files were his salvation – the Holy Grail – and now this sleazy military slime ball wanted to steal it from him.

However, he needed to remind himself that there was the potential risk of the documents being totally worthless. All they might contain were several confessions of the illegal activities Weyland had done in order to acquire that which he wanted – it had always been a common behavior in major corporations through the decades. Heck, even Verheiden himself wasn't totally innocent when it came to some business-transactions.

If the documents did contain confessions however, they could be used as source-material to write a book about the family-line of Weyland. It could maybe become a best-seller, maybe even make it into the movies and Verheiden would then own the rights and earn the royalties the story produced. There were so many possibilities, so many outcomes… Malcolm Verheiden wasn't prepared to give them up. His greed made war with reason…

But in the end it was reason that won the battle. Jacob McHagen had already made it clear to him that he would claim the documents one way or another. It was best to seal the deal now and get something out of it instead of having to suffer the humiliation of losing it all. With clenched teeth, fighting to keep the insult he wanted to give to the man before him beneath his vocal cords, Verheiden moved the contract down to his side of the desk and put his name on the dotted line. Afterwards he angrily showed the paper back to McHagen who picked it up with a glee on his mouth. The commander made a show of examining the signature closely to verify it being authentic.

"All of the material is to be sent to me immediately," McHagen finally said in his most commanding voice. "And I mean _all_ of it."

"I can't give you the hardware stuff," Verheiden said in defeat. It earned him a warning glare from the other. "Not yet!" he added quickly. "It is stashed somewhere in the far back end of one of our main underground storages – it will be some time to locate them and dig them out!"

McHagen said nothing, but instead kept his displeased gaze on the businessman. It actually gave him shivers down his spine.

"I will however send you Weyland's files first thing tomorrow," Verheiden continued nervously. "I'll see to it personally – first thing when I get back! I give you my word!"

"See that you do, Mr. Verheiden," McHagen said in a menacing voice. "And remember that those files are now the property of the United Systems military and are therefore now classified. If I find out that those documents have been tampered with or copied… remember what I said about you disappearing?"

Verheiden swallowed a large lump that had suddenly formed in his throat and confirmed his understanding with a nod. He swore that this was the last time he ever would do business with the likes of Jacob McHagen.


	3. The other me

Author's notes: Warning - there may be some contents in this chapter that might bring a bit of unease to some readers. It is necessary to show the level of instability in Ripley's mind, or in some cases written to show certain character development, as well as it's necessary for the sake of the plot. Just so you know...

* * *

Ellen Ripley stood alone in front of a viewport aboard the _Betty_, facing the window. The sight wasn't spectacular; it only showed the blackness of space - the planetary view was actually on the other side of the ship since they were orbiting Earth. It didn't matter to the woman; she wasn't standing there for the view… her attention wasn't even directed to the outside.

Her thoughts were with her two children, the babies she had lost. She thought of Amanda, her biological offspring who, as far as Ripley knew, never learned the fate of what had become of her mother. The one thing that Ripley regretted the most was that she never got the chance to explain to her little girl why she hadn't come home to her eleventh birthday as she had promised. Fifty-seven years of drifting in space had stolen all the time she had wanted to spend with her daughter. She had come back too late… two years too late.

Ripley recalled the front cover of the magazine Carter Burke had shown her; the photograph of the old woman who had two years earlier died of cancer. She had hardly recognized her child in the picture… and yet it had given her one form of consolation. The worst thing that could happen to a parent was to outlive her own child, especially if the child in question had perished at a young age. That wasn't the case with Amy… she had after all grown up, gotten married and become old – it was sad though that she never had any children of her own. Yet she had lived a long life… no parent could wish for any more than that for her baby.

The same could not be said for Newt, her second child… not in flesh, but well in spirit and soul. Ripley had planned to fight for an adoption of the young girl the instant she had returned to Earth after they had escaped from LV-426, but things had turned out ever so badly during that journey. The pain of that loss still stabbed at her heart. Had the child ever known how much Ripley had loved her? So strong and so brave in such a young age despite the terror and loss she had faced. Ripley had endured the same kind of trauma, so it was only natural that the two of them had sought comfort with each other and a special bond had been formed. It was all so unfair for the girl to have survived an alien infestation in her colony just to die in a crash-landing into the ocean which had resultet in a flooding of her cryotube that had drowned her. Ripley had learned to cope with the loss of Amy, but Newt's death was still like an open wound, and a very painful one at that – and it was that pain which drove her, to make sure that the monsters that had separated her from her children would never destroy another life again! If only people would stop getting in her way! Both they, and her third "baby"…

The third "baby" was the monster that had grown within her when she had died and then been reborn - the imprint of the queen was a part of her genetic structure. She could feel it even now… that part of her also screamed for revenge for the loss of her kin. A surge of anger flowed through her…

_They can burn us… they can crush us… but they cannot destroy us! In time there will be a new crèche! There will __**always**__ be another crèche…_

Those both were and were not Ripley's own thoughts… because of her mixed heritage, she felt both the hate and the love for the xenomorphs as well as the safety and comfort of her own kind. But sometimes Ripley got confused: was her own kind other humans or was it the aliens? Could she even trust humans? They had betrayed her before; their own greed had been more important than that of her safety. And they had killed her children! But it made no sense. They wanted to obtain her children, to study and to learn…

Ripley shook her head in frustration. Her thoughts had become mixed up again and had turned into a crazy jumble. She needed to concentrate and focus on the memories of her human children. Those were the beacons that guided her out of the jungle of emotions that had been formed by her dual physiology. She could hear the alien part of herself growl in rage of yet another foiled attempt to gain more control, but it obediently returned into the farthest regions of her mind, knowing her place… at least this time.

Ripley's ears then picked up the sound of footsteps. She grimaced, but did not turn away from the viewport.

"Ripley?" Call's casual voice was heard. "Can we talk?"

"You should know better than to disturb me, Call," Ripley answered her coldly. She hated having her privacy interrupted, especially when she just recently had fought a battle of minds. She wasn't sure where she had herself yet.

"Vriess wanted you to know that we have reached suitable altitude and we are now in stealth mode orbiting the Earth. He reports that all systems are green and no one seems to be in pursuit. We appear to be in the clear."

"Is that all?" Ripley asked impatiently. She still hadn't turned from the viewport.

Call wrung her hands, composing herself. "That is all there is to say about the ship, but… I have been talking with the rest of the crew and I… or rather, _we_ were wondering if you would like to talk about what happened down there…?"

"What do you mean?" the other demanded.

"Ripley, you came close to kill two men who worked there! It's not like you! It frightens us!"

Ripley didn't react the way Call had wanted. She laughed. "Frightens _you?_ A group of outlaws who lives in anarchy of law and order and who don't give a shit if you hurt somebody else or even if someone ends up dead? I seem to recall stories that your former captain Elgyn was far from a nobleman and Johner is the ultimate badass amongst you. So how is it that _my_ behavior frightens you?"

"Because we all know that Ellen Ripley does not kill," Call persisted. "But the _creature_ does! Who was really leading the attack down there? Was it you or was it _some other_?"

"Ah, of course," Ripley said, strangely cheerfully as she finally turned to face the other woman with a smile. "You're worried about _Raksha_."

"Raksha?" Call asked incredulously. "From the Hindu mythological demon Rakshasa, the devious man-eater? You _named_ it?!"

Ripley made a shrug. "I found the name fitting."

"You make it sound like that there is another entity within you?"

"No… and yes. Raksha is the queen that infested me. Although she was physically removed, there's still a marker of her left within, a bonding that was made when I was resurrected." Ripley spoke calmly, without concern. She acted like she was more like curious of the sensation than anything else. "This… _other_ personality of mine has been making some attempted house calls in my mind lately and I admit that from time to time she does slip out – but I'm quick to push her back again."

"But not before she causes some serious body injuries," Call stated.

"True. Raksha is sneaky… she uses the most critical moments to gain access to my mind while my guard is preoccupied…

"Every human has a dark side within them," Ripley continued. "That's where Raksha settled in, feeding on my negativity... growing like the creature from which she came. Raksha is therefore my darker half… She isn't me, but we are one. And she's evolving, getting stronger…"

Call was shivering. She shouldn't because she was a synthetic, but she did. "Can't you somehow… bury her within your mind somewhere?"

Ripley was smiling as she slowly shook her head. "There's no stopping what can't be stopped… there's no killing what can't be killed." She moved in closer to Call, shortening the distance between them. "As I said: she feeds on my negativity… and I have had no reasons to be happy recently. All I can do is to make a balance: what she takes from me I take from her."

"Like what?" Call asked nervously.

"You saw me down there," Ripley stood so close now that she lowered her voice to a whisper. "Do you really think I could do what I do if I was only human? My reflexes are alien and only the senses of an alien can energize them to allow me to avoid the danger that is present."

"Raksha doesn't sneak out – you're _letting_ her out!"

"Only when I need to." Ripley's hand then raised and was placed on Call's scalp. She started to trace her fingers along the curve of the other's face.

"If only you knew how it feels," Ripley whispered. "The power they possess… the strength… it's enchanting, almost romantic." She said this as she continued to stroke Call's hair and the smaller woman shivered. She had seen this part of Ripley before, in her cell aboard the _Auriga_ when Call had broken in there to kill her. She had been like some kind of a predator playing with her prey – Call had felt terrorized by her behavior back then, and those were the feelings that haunted her now.

"But it is not just my strength that's being enhanced… I can feel all of my other senses growing stronger too. Sounds, tastes, smells… and some cravings. I have urges, Call… urges I need to satisfy!"

Before the smaller woman could react, Ripley pulled Call's face to hers and pressed her lips to the other's. It was not a lover's kiss – it was one of pure hunger, a demanding one without tenderness. She wasn't giving it; she was claiming it to satisfy her own lusts. Call flinched and tried to pull away, but the other wouldn't let her. The woman held the synthetic firmly in place while she hungrily sucked on the other's lips, making bestial noises as if she was some wild animal savoring morsels of a prey. Finally after a while Ripley did break the kiss, but she only did so to breath in some new air. Call knew that the woman would continue with the improper activity if she didn't somehow stop her, but a forceful physical protest would not make any effect in this case – resistance would most probably fuel her cravings even more. She needed to try to talk reason into the other.

"Ripley! This is the _creature's_ essence within you that you allow to fuel your desires!"

"So what if it is?" Ripley asked, leaning back in.

"But you _hate_ the creatures!" Call quickly said. Ripley halted; confusion was evident on her face.

"I do hate them," she concurred.

"You just said that you wouldn't let Raksha out unless it was needed. This isn't one of those times – and yet this is _her_ doing! She's using you, Ripley! She is channeling her animalistic lusts through your cravings to get out – to get more control!"

"NO!" Ripley growled, forcibly pushing Call away. "She isn't in control! _I_ am!" The woman was angry now, frustrated like if she had been caught doing a bad act – and perhaps she had. She didn't like it one bit. She turned back facing the viewport. "Get out, Call. I wish to be alone."

Call would have liked to, but there was one more matter that needed to be dealt with. "There is one more concern…" she said carefully.

"It had better not be about the fruitless raids we're doing!" Ripley's temper was really beginning to flare up now. "The materials are down there somewhere – and we are going to find them, no matter what it takes!"

"But meanwhile Ryan is taking advantage of our failures!"

"What's he done now?"

"What he always does: he steals!" Call now sounded just as exasperated as Ripley had only a half a minute ago. "We just saw him piling up electronics and stuff on a table, stuff that clearly does not belong to the ship! People call us pirates, but he really lives up to the name!"

"Tell me again why we have him aboard?"

"He's one of Elgyn's street contacts, one that even _he_ didn't like much since he always insulted Hillard whenever they met. Ryan has connections to people who provide us with spare parts. The _Betty_ was in a pretty bad shape after our escape from the _Auriga_ – we had no choice but to contact him to get the parts we needed to get this barge shipshape again."

"So he got us the parts, but surely he doesn't need to be aboard for any more than that?"

"Ripley, the cost for the parts were _horrendous_ since they're so difficult to come by - the _Betty_ is after all older than even you. We're quite indebted to the suppliers, not even the money General Perez paid Elgyn for the… hrmm… _cargo_ we supplied to him was enough to cover the expenses. Ryan's job is to make sure that we collect enough valuables in our raids in order to pay the suppliers what we still owe them."

"Out of the question!" Ripley snapped. "We're not thieves! Our purpose is to eradicate a threat to the galaxy; we're not going to sink to the level of being petty criminals!"

"That's what I'm trying to nail into that thick skull of his – but you know how Ryan is," Call replied with bitterness. "He's of the opinion that all women are worthless, good for nothing! He absolutely refuses to listen to me, not that he shares the morality of our 'no-stealing'-policy anyhow.

"And you can bet that he doesn't steal for our benefit to liberate us from our debt," Call went on. "He takes it all for himself – and not just valuables from our raids, but we suspect that he steals from the crew as well! Vriess has lost many pieces which he needs to build himself a new wheelchair. He's very upset about the delays he keeps getting because of that…"

"That's enough!" Ripley cut her off. "I will not have thefts aboard this ship! I hear it's about time I had a talk with that creep!" And with that, Ripley stormed away towards the habitat-areas of the _Betty, _with Call following close behind. She found the rest of her crew in the dining-area drinking Johner's home-brew and smoking narco-sticks. A filthy habit, Ripley thought. She and Call were the only ones aboard who didn't consume any of it. The one person she was after to confront was not present though.

"Where is he?" Ripley demanded. Since Ryan was the only one absent, they knew that is was he their captain was referring to.

"In Christie's quarters," Johner replied, downing a jug of his lethal drink. He refused to refer his deceased shipmate's quarters as vacant as in free for taking. In his eyes, that runt Ryan had stolen it. Ripley gave no form of acknowledgement – instead she disappeared down into another corridor while Call hung back with the rest of the people.

"What's going on?" Vriess asked. He was sitting in one of the normal chairs beside the table where the Felger twins had put him. Ever since he had to abandon his motorized wheelchair on the _Auriga_, his mobility around the ship was extremely limited. He had to be carried from spot to spot, and the twins were not happy about having to act as attendants for an immobile man. Johner refused to give him that kind of help all the way. Vriess had been working on building himself a new chair, but the task always seemed to be postponed in one way or another.

"Well, I did it," Call sighed. "I've just unleashed Ripley on Ryan."

"Well, about time!" Johner raised his mug in approval.

"I'm sure you did the right thing, Call." Vriess seconded, but his voice had quivered. Call looked her friend over: he looked pale and he displayed no kind of assurance. In fact, he looked quite nervous and that's how he had acted for some time now.

"Vriess. Are you all right?" Call asked him.

Don't worry, Call. I'm fine." But the woman knew that it was a lie – Vriess was not fine. He had changed ever since the incident on the _Auriga _where three of his good friends had died. His cheerful demeanor had gradually vanished and left behind an emotional wreck. Call knew that he had been under a lot of stress lately, but she was beginning to think that it had taken a higher toll on him than what she first had believed.

Ripley was oblivious to Vriess' problems and right now also to any other problem whatsoever. For the moment she only had Ryan's insubordination on her mind and the thought of what he was doing behind her back made her angry. But then, there were many things that made her angry these days. Stopping in front of the door that was the barrier to the room on the other side, she banged her knuckles hard on the metal.

"Ryan! Get out here!"

The reply she got made her temper flare up another couple of degrees. "Sod off, Bitch!" came from behind the closed door

"That was an _order!_" she growled.

"And I don't take orders from a _fucking_ woman!" was the answer. Ripley wasn't just angry now, she was furious! Moving to the side of the doorframe, she punched her fist right through the door-control panel and ripped out the circuitry, just like she had done at the Wal-Mart complex. That action ruined the magnetic locks of the door and she simply pushed it aside.

"Hey, what the fu…" Ryan barely had time to react before Ripley barged into the room and was immediately over him.

Zacharias 'Zack' Ryan was a slob. He was in his mid-twenties, but while he fashioned the looks of a teenage boy, he had the bodily curves of a man twice his age that you could tell was out of shape. His chest-nut colored hair which hung halfway down his neck was unruly and that was because it was unwashed since a long time back. There was also a golden ring in his left earlobe.

Ripley grabbed hold on the worn collar of his black leatherjacket and dragged him with her out of the room. "Let go o' me!" he barked as he fought against her hold, but to no avail. She didn't let go until she had dragged him all the way to the dining-area where the rest of her crew was waiting and there she unceremoniously threw him on the table, making the dish fly.

"Hey, watch the brew," Johner scolded, but Ripley ignored him.

"Now listen up here, you _runt_," the woman spat at the slob. "You're occupying our space, breathe our air and eat our food, and you're giving _nothing_ back for it! On this ship we each do our part of the duty rooster and you are as hell no exception! Just what do you think this is; a _pleasure cruise?!_"

"I'm on a _job_ here," Ryan answered defiantly. "But I sure ain't heck working for _you_! I am to supervise the incomes of valuables that you owe my _bosses_ for the parts you needed to get this _junkpile_ of yours up in the air again! You think I _enjoy_ being here?!"

"Why all the thefts?" Ripley asked.

"What, you think I get _paid_ for doing this? I get percentage of business-transactions I bring to the bosses; I'm not on the payroll for recoveries! I have to earn an income of my own for wasting my time here!"

"You're giving us a bad reputation," Call said.

"Hah! Like you ever had any from the start!"

"And you still deplete our resources without doing anything to earn it!" Call continued. "Instead you're using us to gain entrance into facilities to steal equipment for yourself! And that brings up the question: are you stealing from us too?"

"Do you really expect me to answer that?"

"You will answer it!" Ripley demanded.

"Fuck off!" Ryan snarled. It took every ounce of self-control in Ripley to stop herself from hitting him. Instead she turned to the Felger-twins.

"Go to his quarters! Check to see if there's anything in there that look like it belongs to us!" The twins went to the task quickly and without a word. Anything was better than risking being the target of Ripley's wrath.

Ryan was looking at Ripley with contempt. "It won't change a thing!"

"Is that a confession?" the other asked with ice in her tone.

"You stupid broad! You will only make it worse for yourself if you throw me off the ship. I'll just report to the bosses that you refuse to pay and then they will send out a couple of their gorillas to collect the debt – and they won't be nice about it!"

"Oh, really?" That was delivered with a hint of nonchalance.

"You don't believe me? You don't seem to understand what kind of people you've thrown in yourself with. But that's hardly surprising – you're just a woman after all, what is there you _do_ understand?"

"What's _with_ you and your hate for women?" Call blurted out, sounding very upset.

"They're _beneath_ me, so shut your trap!" It was a good thing Ryan held back the last insult he would have given Call, or he would have earned a hard punch to his face by the acting captain of the _Betty_. But Vriess was not going to let it go unchallenged even though it wasn't spoken out loudly.

"How _dare_ you speak to her like that?"

"Vriess. Let it go," Call spoke softly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"No, I won't!" Vriess said exasperated. "The runt has got a serious _attitude_ problem!"

"In my opinion, bitches shouldn't talk unless they're spoken to!" Ryan spat out. "And the same goes for cripples!" Vriess was shaking with anger, and that made Call grow very concerned. It looked like her friend was losing control because he was sweating all over and going even paler in his face.

"And people say that _I'm_ a monkey," Johner muttered.

After a moment the twins returned and as expected; their arms were filled with different mechanical parts which they spread out on the table.

"Well, I definitely recognize these parts from the store-room," said Keevan. "I noticed they were gone last week."

"And this explains how come we were suddenly out of printed circuit boards," Naavek followed up, showing the box to the rest.

"Was that your game?" Ripley asked coldly. "Your bosses sell us the parts and you steal them back?" Ryan said nothing, just glared angrily at the woman. Most likely it disturbed him that he had been caught red-handed.

"Hey!" Vriess suddenly let out a yell. "That's my A-10 power regulator! I needed it for my new wheelchair, but it disappeared! And the fiber-optic cables! You _stole_ them, you bastard!"

Ryan only shrugged. "I figured I had better use of it than a cripple had." His tone was uncaring and devoid of guilt, and that made Vriess even more furious. He actually attempted to get out of his chair to jump him.

"You disgusting creep! I'm gonna…"

"You gonna what?" Ryan challenged. But Vriess didn't answer. For a moment he actually seemed completely immobilized all over.

"Vriess?" Call tried to get his attention. Vriess' face was flushing red and he was sweating profusely. He started to shake, and then he suddenly went into a seizure, inarticulate guttural sounds escaped from his throat.

"_Vriess?!_" Call now cried out in fear. It appeared that Vriess was in cramps, or was there something worse going on? The small woman was at his side as his body convulsed even more.

"What's the matter with him?" Johner asked. Even he looked concerned and at loss of what to do.

"_Help me!_" Call cried out. "We have to get him to medical!" The twins, realizing that there was an emergency going on rushed forward and took hold of Vriess to carry him away. Ryan took in the moment of confusing the opportunity to slip away. Ripley only stood still, watching the drama unfold with nothing more than a slight interest.

Call and the twins disappeared with Vriess – Ryan had slithered away. The dining area was now devoid of people except for Johner and herself. The man didn't stay behind; he rose and went away without a word, going about his own business. The matter of Ryan's thievery had just suddenly become a minor nuisance that had been forgotten, there was nothing more to be done about it right now. She simply went back to the viewport where she had stood before Call had come in and resumed staring out into the void of darkness.

It had been close to an hour before Ripley heard Call approach her again – but as before, she didn't turn around. "How is he?" she asked shortly. It was Call's voice that quivered this time when she gave her reply.

"He's _dead!"_

Ripley turned just slightly, seeing that Call's synthetic tear canals were at work. She said nothing though, just waited for the other to continue.

"It was an acute autonomic dysreflexia seizure – it's common for people with a spinal cord injury. He's been under a lot of stress lately… blood pressure was elevated, up to 150 mm. HG…" Call swallowed another sob. Ripley found this behavior of hers strange. Was she really programmed to mourn a dead comrade like this?

"His _chair_…" Call continued. "The one he had to abandon on the _Auriga_… it was _more_ than a vehicle! It monitored his condition, helped to prevent pressure sores so that his nervous system wouldn't be over-stimulated and such… He really _needed_ to build a new one, but there never seemed to be time for it… and now that Ryan had stolen the parts… it became too much for him. He became so upset that he…" The last words were delivered in a whisper.

There were no more words said for the moment. Ripley just stood watching the viewport, but in the end she only found one thing to say…

"You'll handle the funeral arrangements?"

Call could just stare at Ripley in shock. Was that all she had to say? Vriess was _dead_ and she didn't seem to care much about it! But then again, impassivity _was_ her trademark these days.

"Oh, I'll handle it alright," Call shot back furiously. "Everybody else on this barge seems to be too coldhearted to care otherwise!" And then Call left the area, fuming with rage. But her words were still hanging in the air.

_Coldhearted?_ Ripley didn't know what to make of that. She was surprised that Call had even uttered it. All right, Vriess was dead and Call was grieving him. Perhaps Ripley even was partly responsible for the mechanic's death: she had after all also driven Vriess a little bit too roughly herself, forcing him to fly the ship even though he didn't want to. Still… Ripley had lost many people and she would lose many more - that's why she didn't let herself get attached to any of them in the first place. She didn't think that was coldhearted – it was just a way to spare yourself from the pain when death did occur. Ripley was not about to let herself be deviated from her task by such trivialities – she had more important matters to attend to. They were now one man down, but to Ripley that didn't change anything. It won't make any difference.

_It won't make any difference,_ repeated the child's voice in her head. Newt's voice again. _That_ on the other hand shook Ripley up a bit, because she knew that it was _not_ something the child would have said in a situation like this. So why did that pop up in her head? Was it just a weird memory that showed up at the entirely wrong moment… or was it a warning? When Newt's voice said that it didn't make any difference, could it mean just the opposite?

Maybe Ripley had to admit it: she really _was_ coldhearted, but that was her nature today. She couldn't live in any other way because the sad truth was: there was none alive today that could possibly thaw her icy heart up.


	4. The forbidden planet

Three weeks had gone by since the attack on Wal-Mart. To most people, the incident had already fallen into a distant memory. To the crew aboard the USM _Athena_, the attempted raid was not even a knowledge. The military science vessel hadn't been within Earth's space perimeter for a half a year and during the past month, the people onboard had been residing in hypersleep capsules, so that kind of news had not been any of their concern. At least that's what they would've liked to believe had they been awake during that time… it was in fact going to be their concern whether they liked it or not.

The sleeper pod opened, recalling its occupant back to a waking state. Adrienne Kinloch blinked the sleepiness out of her eyes and cursing the chilliness from the cryo-stasis that was still plaguing her bones. Couldn't the machines raise her internal temperature back to normal levels _before_ she was roused from her sleep? Adrienne sat up in her pod and looked around. The sight that greeted her didn't please her one bit.

"Great! Last one out _again!_" she grumbled as she looked the other empty pods over. The other members of the crew (she refused to call them shipmates) always did that. Going up and about with their own tasks and completely ignoring her. She didn't know if it was a woman thing or if it was because she was a civilian - but she did know that it pissed her off. Adrienne was a civilian contractor for the military working as a scientist, but her projects were never taken seriously. She wouldn't even have the job if it hadn't been because her parents both had served as military personnel in their careers.

Adrienne Kinloch was born into the best of both worlds when it came to medical profession. Her mother had been a master surgeon, one of the world's finest when it came to treat biological traumas. She had treated wounds and saved lives of those whom other doctors had already declared as lost causes. It was ironic that she fell victim to a misfired shot out in the field five years ago, receiving a wound she herself could easily have treated, but which no one else could. But much of her specialties and tricks now lived on with Adrienne.

Her father had been a doctor in biochemistry whose specialty had been DNA-splitting and cellular engineering. Although his ethical motives had been in question from time to time as he had been working for the military, it was mainly in his footsteps Adrienne walked. She had always been fascinated with the microscopic germs, seeking to dig into their cores to find out what always made them become so malevolent and cause illness to the hosts they inhabited. But while she used her knowledge seeking to tame viruses, her father's ambitions had been on higher levels – he wanted to be in complete control over them.

It appeared that father Kinloch had gotten his chance some time ago. He had been part of a science team in a top-secret project, doing something extremely classified. Adrienne had never learned what exactly her father had been working with - all she knew was that he had been extremely excited about it, and that exhilaration had ultimately led to his death. Adrienne had never really learned the exact circumstances involving her father's demise, but there were certain rumors following about his death - rumors she prayed wasn't true. It was said that the project had involved conducting scientific experiments on human test-subjects, totally without their consent. Adrienne knew that her father had sometimes acted unethical, but to that level? If there were some truth to those rumors, then she was glad that her mother was already gone. She would have died of utter shame.

Her parents had already begun to drift apart when Adrienne entered college for medical science - while she shared her father's passion for biochemistry, she had inherited her mother's doctor's call to save lives and to never do harm.

Life was sacred to Adrienne, to the point that she was extremely unwilling to use live animal test subjects – she relied solely on computerized simulations, something she had been told on numerous occasions that it wasn't a reliable source for the final results. Her father had been one of those critics, always decreeing that there were no fame or glory coming when being a saint in science. He would afterwards always give a lecture on how the military wanted bioresearch for world-dominant purposes, and that's where you would find all the money and resources. Adrienne could never abide to that fact, that's why she refused to join the military ranks like her parents had. She wanted to use her knowledge to cure diseases, not making weapons! But she knew perfectly well that research couldn't be undertaken at all without funds, so she grudgingly accepted the position as a civilian researcher for the military her father had gotten for her. But she suspected that her father had secretly hoped that Adrienne would reconsider her ethical motives within a military installation. It hadn't happened yet.

Yet there seemed to have been some truth in what her father had said: her research wasn't taken with much interest by her military supervisors. While they agreed that her goals were admirable, it was not something they had any real use for, or even wanted. They even subliminally threatened her that if she did not start to take up some other projects which they could use, her funds would be cut by half the next year. Adrienne knew that she would have to try to find another benefactor soon, but first she wanted to complete the research she was so deeply immersed in now before that.

Adrienne quickly freshened herself up and got dressed, then she went straight to the ships lab. The ship USM _Athena_ wasn't just a science vessel – it was a humanitarian emergency craft under military jurisdiction, one of four manufactured by a Japanese company to answer to any catastrophic disaster there was anywhere in the galaxy. It had all the new state-of-the-art medical- and bio-equipment at their disposal which was a dream to scientists and doctors alike. They were not on route to answer to a distress now though - the _Athena_ was on its way back to Earth after having delivered a load of organs for transplantations to a colony on Rhyme IV, in a neighboring system. A medical ship like the _Athena_ was the only kind of craft that could store biological substances without danger of degradation during transport. Adrienne had made sure to tag along on the trip - not only was she volunteering to supervise the quality of the organs, but also because she saw it as her chance to acquire samples of a viral infection that had threatened to start a pandemic situation over there. Having studied the reports of the strain, Adrienne was certain that it had the similar basic properties of the old ZIKA-virus that had roamed on Earth some time ago. Same effects, but both had developed in two different environments. Adrienne was going to study both viruses to the core, and hopefully find the one protomarker that was responsible for making the two strains to becoming so aggressive. Then she would know which marker she would have to make an anti-body to, and she would be able to counteract both variants with a vaccine, or perhaps even a cure.

She was on a limited time though. The problem with the viruses was that they were under constant mutations, that's why it had become such a nuisance. All the first stages of the viruses were almost gone and thus very difficult to come by, and the samples she had acquired had gone quite far along in its own mutation process. She kept it in cold storage during the trip to slow its development, but soon it would become too individual to make a good comparison to her own brand in her lab back home, and then all her theories would be worthless. If only she could have brought her own samples with her to start work aboard the _Athena_ as soon as the other brand was acquired, but regulations strictly forbid transport of a dangerous virus while transporting fresh organs as the danger of potential contamination was present.

Adrienne checked the vials – they were all secured, but despite being kept in cold storage, the virus was still mutating. She couldn't freeze it with ice as it would risk destroying the samples completely. She would have to work quickly. It was time to head to the bridge and have a talk with the captain. She took a moment to look herself in a mirror: she didn't care much for her own looks, but she was serving under military rule and they had their regulations of dress codes and hairstyles which she was required to follow. Adrienne didn't personally consider herself to be a fashion-model beauty, but she was aware that she did have an appeasing appearance which would make men turn their heads after her. Her dark brown hair that framed her pale heart-shaped face was collected in a ponytail from her neck and her slightly slanted eyes with dark irises gave her an exotic look like she was a woman from the south Pacific. She wore no make-up – such chemical properties would risk tainting equipment that required to be sterile. Yes, many men had tried to make a move on her, but she rejected them all as she did not want to be considered a trophy for a male who needed his manhood confirmed by having a beautiful woman by his side. She had been through that once, a relationship that had ended badly when she realized that her boyfriend had her more for his own ego rather than caring about her. That lesson had made her careful to not be exploited, and she taught herself to be independent enough to not fall for that again.

The bridge was occupied by the rest of the crew, going about their tasks. All in all, they were only six people aboard: aside from her there was the captain and his First Officer whom also acted as the pilot, two marine engineers who served as both brawn and mechanics, plus a young recruit who was in training to be a field medic. You could say that Adrienne was his tutor on this trip, making him an intern to her.

Ignoring all the soldiers whom were all too macho-like for her taste, she went straight up to the captain of the _Athena_. "Captain, I'd like you to establish contact with ICC Quarantine so that I can declare and sign the formal documents for the viruses we're bringing in. Also, I need a medical technician to bring in a fully prepared cooling box here as soon as we're docked to put the vials in so that they won't degrade until I can get them to my lab."

Captain Grissom looked somewhat troubled as he looked back at her. "Didn't somebody tell you, Doctor?"

"Tell me what?" Adrienne questioned impatiently. "No one tells me anything around here! I'm always the last one to know things!"

The captain cleared his throat before delivering the news: "The thing is, Doctor… we're nowhere near Earth. The auto-pilot received orders two weeks ago to alter course and head to some new coordinates."

Adrienne felt close to go absolutely livid. "_What?!_ _I have no time for any detours! The samples must go to my lab now, or the mutations will have processed too far to compare them to mine!"_

"I'm sorry, Doctor… but it's out of my hands…"

"_How far are we from Earth?"_

"Even if we did turn back now, it would take us three weeks to get there from our present location."

_Three weeks?_ Adrienne dug her fingers into her scalp and let out a load groan. There was no way to get the samples to her lab in time. Ruined! Her experiment was _ruined_ – and the entire trip a complete waste!

"Who came up with the _stupid_ idea to change course?!" she demanded. She would have his hide!

The captain held back an amused laughter. "It came all the way from the top: the order was issued by Jacob McHagen himself."

"_Tell me_ that we at least changed course due to a humanitarian emergency!" Adrienne pleaded.

The captain was ready to dismiss her. "Unlikely. We're in an uninhabited system."

"_Where _are we exactly, then?"

"Zeta II Reticuli," the First Officer answered for the captain from the helm. "We're headed for LV-426."

The whole situation made less sense to Adrienne by the minute. "But that's a _forbidden_ planet! It's radioactive – _unsuitable_ to sustain life! What the _hell_ are we doing here?!"

"Jacob McHagen seems to think that there's something here that needs to be investigated," the captain said tiredly.

"Like what? And why did he choose us to do it?"

"He didn't say… and I don't ask. All I know is that we are to look for anything that is considered an anomaly to this place. It is a given order and we're to follow the command. You had best just get over it, Doctor. The top has made up his mind and you're along for the ride, whether you like it or not."

"Captain," one of the marine technicians spoke up. "We're in range to initiate a scan with the metal detector."

"Proceed."

The crew set to work, thus now ignoring Adrienne completely. Feeling bitter all over, she looked through the main viewport at the worthless pile of rock they were approaching. She knew about LV-426 through history lessons in school. It was a lifeless celestial body with a sad story. Two centuries ago there had been a terraforming colony established there – but something went wrong, and the nuclear-driven atmosphere processor blew up, killing all inhabitants and poisoning the atmosphere with radiation for a long time ahead. She couldn't for the world imagine just what on that god-forsaken rock would compel the supreme commander of the United Systems Military Special Research Department to order her ship to alter course to come here and in effect ruin her project. She would file a formal protest when they got back home.

Long minutes passed by while nothing happened, but finally the technician at the scanner-board spoke again. "Can't say if this classifies as an anomaly, but the only unusual signal we pick up on our scanners is a field of debris. There's a lot of junk strewn across a large area down below us."

"What's so unusual about that?" the First Officer asked. "It's most likely the remains of that colony complex that blew up all those years ago."

"That was my first thought too," the tech said. "But the coordinates of this junkyard don't corroborate to the documents on where the main complex was set up. According to our files, the crater from the explosion is located just beyond the terminator, almost on the other side of the planetoid."

"I've done a preliminary analysis of the composition of the debris," the other tech set from his station. "It doesn't look like material used in building structures – there's mostly titanium alloy and steel. My guess is that we're looking at the remains of a destroyed spaceship!"

"A spaceship?" the First Officer questioned. "How is that possible? This is a restricted system! All space travels here have been prohibited since the disaster two hundred years ago."

Captain Grissom stroke his chin in thought. "If it was indeed a ship, then what were they looking for? The whole colony was vaporized, there's nothing of any value left. Who could it have been?"

"Maybe there's a way to find out, Captain," the scanner technician said. "There are harsh winds down there carrying particles which interferes with our scanners, but the area is clearing up. I'm picking up a large mass of metal in one single spot, bigger than anything else. Something's seems to be intact down there."

"Confirmed!" the other tech said. "It has the same composition as the rest of the debris, but the structure isn't as worn down and rust-infested as the rest of the parts are. It seems to be a module of some kind."

The captain wasn't entirely convinced. "Are we certain? It doesn't seem much to go on, hardly enough to even consider going down there to check out. I prefer not to land on that rock."

The scanner tech hesitated before answering. "Hold on, I'm picking up more… there seems to be something else – another large object that doesn't belong to the landscape, a few kilometers away from the field of debris."

"Another module?" the First Officer speculated.

"I'm not sure… Forster, can you make a composite analysis of it?"

"Sure thing, Bors. Stand by," the other tech said. When he spoke again, he sounded astonished. "Remarkable! Whatever it is, it doesn't match anything on the periodical table of elements!"

"What does that mean?" the young ensign, Andersson, spoke up for the first time.

"Basically, it means that we have never encountered that composition before," Adrienne said. When the young field medic in training still looked confused, the woman explained it more simply. "It's made of an alloy of unknown origin – not made by man!" Her interest was piqued. The discovery of some unknown tech might just make up for having her project ruined.

The captain was also excited. "Could this be what McHagen wanted us to find? It certainly qualifies as an anomaly."

"Orders, Captain?" his First Officer asked.

"What else? We're going in! We're obliged to investigate anything unknown."

"Wait, down there?" Andersson objected. "Land on the planet? What about the radiation?"

The rest of the crew, save for Adrienne, laughed. "Green Shirt, that down there is nothing compared to the radioactive emissions coming from some of the stars in this galaxy. The ship is built to handle it! As long as you remain within confinement and don't head outside without a hazmat-suit, you're perfectly safe!"

* * *

Author's notes: I've based the looks of the doctor Adrienne Kinloch after the actress Lexa Doig. If you've seen the Tv-series Stagate SG-1 where she played Dr. Carolyn Lam in the last two seasons, you'll have a pretty good idea how she looks like.


	5. The unexpected discoveries

Landing on the surface of LV-426 turned out to be a difficult task. As common as it was with that world, a wild storm was brewing, slamming air and dust against the hull of the descending space-craft with such force that it threatened to bank the ship and throw it into an uncontrolled spin. But the _Athena_ was a large vessel with a heavy mass and equipped with powerful engines, so the thrusters and the skills of the pilot helped to hold it steady during its way down. Once it was settled on the rocky terrain, Captain Grissom divided the crew into three separate groups. He and his First Officer would remain onboard while the two military technicians Bors and Forster as well as Adrienne together with the rookie Ensign Andersson would go out separately in the ship's two ATV:s to check out the two unidentified sources. Here it was where Adrienne went into a tantrum again.

"Why are you sending me to check out the field of _debris?!_" she raged. "I'm a biologist, closest thing you have to a _Xeno_-biologist even - I should be on the tractor heading out for the unknown alien source!"

"It's because it is unknown that I won't send you there," the captain explained. "We need to determine first that there is no danger present. It's for your safety."

"Why? Because I'm a _woman?_"

"No, because you're a _civilian!_ Had you been an enlisted soldier, you would've been my first choice to send out to investigate the alien thing - but you're working for us as a civilian contractor, so the military rule to keep civilians out of harm's way applies until any potential danger is discerned! Be glad that I allow you to go out at all, I could just as well have confined you to quarters!"

Adrienne surrendered, but she was still fuming. In her mind, military authority have always had this nagging nuisance to overstep the freedom of civilian rights when it served their purposes. She could not understand what her parents thought they'd gained by joining their ranks.

Close to a half hour later, two external modules at the back of the ship began to descend from the top, riding down on vertical tracks mounted to the hull between the afterburners. When the modules reached the ground, they detached from the carriers and the two All-Terrain Vehicles rolled off in separate directions away from the _Athena_. The tractors were nicknamed as 'ambulances', which was close to the truth as they were designed to cross rough terrain in order to reach wounded people out in the wild and transport them back to civilization, and the vehicles had all the necessary equipment aboard for emergency first aid and medical support.

Adrienne was riding 'shotgun' in tractor two, letting her intern Ensign Andersson handle the wheel. She was in a too bad of a mood to be a decent driver, as she was still moping for the missed opportunities.

"- Attention, tractor one and two," the captain's voice was heard over the radio: "- Remember to keep the lines open so that we can follow each of your progress'. Keep track on the beacons of your metal detectors so that you don't lose your way in this storm. I dare guess that your visibility isn't that good?" It certainly wasn't. The powerful howling wind was carrying thick dark mists of rock dust which effectively obscured their view, and the sun was completely blocked by the clouds. The drivers in their respective tractors could barely see two meters ahead through the windshield. And it was cold. Despite being isolated, the tractor couldn't maintain the warmth. Adrienne bit back an icy remark on how the captain and his first officer were sitting in their nice warm control room while the underlings had to go out on these little excursions.

After fifteen minutes of bumpy ride over the rocky terrains, Andersson began to find the pressing silence of his passenger a bit too uncomfortable. "Well… it's sad that your experiment went to waste, Doc, but you know… this is kind of exciting, isn't it? We're on the verge of discovering something unknown here. Don't you wonder what that alien object could be?"

"Of course I do!" Adrienne snapped. "But that's not where we're headed now, is it? We were picked to investigate some debris of a crashed ship, where's the excitement in that?"

"Your name will still be on the list of the discoverers. We all will be. That will be a swing in your career, don't you think?"

Adrienne rolled her eyes. "Think so, huh? You still have much to learn, Andersson. This is the military – they won't recognize your name for this discovery. The eventual glory will climb all the way up to the head honchos – in this case it will be Jacob McHagen for ordering us to set down here in the first place. You're just a soldier doing your duty: nothing more and nothing less. One thing I've learned when it comes to the military: the brass always seizes the glory of victory, but the failures will always be passed on to the underlings. They won't have 'incompetence' staining their shiny stars."

"- We can hear you, you know," the captain's voice was heard over the radio. "- Might I remind you that your conversation is being recorded, Dr. Kinloch? That's your boss you're talking about."

The subliminal threat did not trouble Adrienne. "What's he going to do, court-martial me? I'm a civilian, remember?"

"- No, but he can cut down on your funds, so I suggest that you choose to be humbler about your benefactor." To Adrienne's chagrin, that point hit the mark. She went back to her sulking. Andersson was smart enough to not try her patience again.

Ten minutes later the radio crackled again. "- Captain, this is Bors in tractor one! We have a visual on the unidentified object, and brother, would you believe this! It's a real mother-to-god U.F.O.! It's shaped like a horse-shoe, but of a design I've never seen before!"

"- Tractor one, this is the captain: is there any activity? Any signs of life?"

"- Negative. It looks completely dead. I think it might have been here for centuries! Good god, it's _huge!"_

"- Proceed to investigate, tractor one – but exercise extreme caution! Keep the line open at all time!"

The conversation over the radio didn't cheer Adrienne up the least. She should be over there! The discovery of a new intelligence is a dream to a scientist. Who knows what scientific goodies might be on that ship?

"_Athena_, this is tractor two," Andersson spoke into the radio. "Our report isn't as exciting as the other. We've reached the field of debris, but the metal pieces strewn around here are all too dented and twisted to make a possible identification. We can't tell if it really was a ship."

"- Tractor two, this is the captain: have you got a visual of that large structure yet?"

"Negative. We're still trying to maneuver around all this junk. But we believe that it should be on the other side of a ridge we're trying to get to."

"- Keep us apprised, tractor two."

Another pause of intensive minutes passed before the next report came in. "- _Athena_, this is Bors. We can go no further by the tractor, we're as close as we can get. We will proceed the rest of the way on foot. It's just a short hike."

Just then the view ahead cleared a bit for the riders in tractor two. "Captain, this is Andersson! We just got a visual of the structure the metal detector picked up, and I dare say it's better than what we hoped for. I'm no expert on spaceships, but I am positive that we're looking at a landing craft!"

"- Describe it for us, tractor two!" the captain demanded. But it was Adrienne who answered.

"That's no lander," she said studying the module they were approaching. "It's an EEV – an emergency escape vehicle. Military type, old design! I know, because my father had a fascination for old military hardware, it was in a book he used to show me when I was little."

"- That's excellent!" the first officer spoke through the radio. "- If it's military, then there should be a registration mark on its hull of the ship it belonged to! Can you see any name?"

"Stand by, we need to get closer," Andersson said. He steered the tractor carefully as he drove closer, squinting his eyes in attempt to see through the dirty wind which obscured the surface of the old craft.

"Switch the headlights to infrared, I think I can see something," Adrienne told the driver. He did so. The woman focused on the illuminated spot through the windshield. "U… S… C. M. Herc… u… les. Yes. _Hercules_. That's the name."

"USCM? That's the designation for the _United systems_ _Colonial Marines!"_ Andersson said.

"- Stand by, tractor two, we're checking the files." It took a short while before the captain returned to the radio. "- Well, kids, it looks like you've made an important discovery of your own. The USCM _Hercules_ disappeared with all hands without a trace two hundred years ago. It was suspected that they had deserted, but the brass of that time insisted it was impossible."

"Why's that, Sir?" Andersson asked.

"- Because the colonel of that unit, which was called the 'Rawhides', was said to be an extremely loyal officer whom would never abandon his duty! What they based that assumption on is apparently classified. Need-to-know only, reserved for those with top clearance alone."

"How convenient," Adrienne snorted.

"- The mystery of the _Hercules_' disappearance has been nagging the generals of the colonial administration for decades! What was it doing here, you can wonder? It went missing three years _after_ the disaster that destroyed the colony on this planet, so it can't have any connection to that!"

Adrienne sighed. "In other words: to solve that mystery, we have to get inside the EEV and fetch the flight recorder which quite likely would contain the last events of the whole trip it made here!"

"- I always knew you were the smart one, doc," the captain praised.

As they prepared to go outside, Adrienne began to suspect the real reason Jacob McHagen had chosen the _Athena_ for this mission: - it was, since it was a humanitarian emergency vessel, the one spaceship in the area that was beforehand fully equipped to meet the harsh conditions of LV-426. They needed to dress themselves with hazmat suits to avoid being affected by radioactive particles and other maladies, and such suits were usually standard in the 'ambulances'- there would be none available in an ATV on a regular military ship. It was clear that Jacob McHagen knew that there was something important to be found here on this planet, but he didn't know what. Adrienne wondered what prompted McHagen to look for something here in the first place? What kind of information had he received that would compel him to throw her experiment to the wind? He had obviously not known about either the EEV or of the alien ship being stranded here, because if he or anyone else had been aware of those beforehand, another expedition would already have been sent to this system years ago. Whatever the secrets were here on this desolated planetoid, she hoped that it would be worth her while.

When they were finished donning on their hazmat suits, they were prepared to leave the tractor through the double-set of doors – but nothing could have prepared them for the powerful wind that greeted them outside. It was stronger than they had expected, threatening to pick them up and carry the two away.

"God dammit!" Andersson sputtered. "This is like a hurricane blast! And all this dust! I can't see a thing!"

Adrienne had to shout to make herself heard over the howling wind. "Just follow the headlights from the tractor! It's pointed directly towards the EEV!" They had to secure their footing with each step while they crossed the distance towards their goal – one slight misstep, and they would fall and tumble away over the ground. And on this rocky wasteland it would not be a good thing to do so as the pointy obstacles would risk puncturing their suits. At least they did not need to fear suffocation - the air was still breathable from the time the atmosphere processors of the colony had terraformed the methane into oxygen.

Although it was a short distance, it felt like forever before they reached the downed craft. But soon they stood beside it and now they were looking for a way inside. It took a while, but finally they found the entry hatch. Adrienne tried the handle – it wouldn't budge. "It's sealed tightly! And I also think the lock has been frozen! We need to pry it open!"

Andersson had been thoughtful enough to bring a toolbox. Using a crowbar, they used joined force to break the lock. They were sweaty and tired when the barrier finally gave away and they could roll the door manually aside. Switching on their flashlights, they looked inside the battered craft. The conditions within took them a bit by surprise. Every surface was covered in glistering white snow.

"It's like an icebox in here," Andersson commented. "One in desperate need of defrosting. There's ice everywhere!"

"Strange for a craft that's supposed to be hermetically sealed to handle the vacuum of space," Adrienne said. "The only explanation is that the hull has been breached somewhere, allowing moisture to get in. Then the cold froze it to the walls, making this into an ice cavern. Impossible as it seems, I think it's even colder in here than it is outside!"

"At least there are no windblasts," Andersson pointed out while heaving himself inside. "…so I think I prefer to be in here!" Adrienne agreed and followed him inside. They made a closer inspection of the conditions with their flashlights when they stood within the vehicle.

"The frost is completely smooth on the deck," she said as she knew that the captain and the first officer were both still listening on the radio. "No footprints, which makes me believe that we are the first visitors since the EEV came down here."

"- Dr. Kinloch, this is the captain: we've called up the schematics of the old EEV units the _Hercules_ used. The flight recorder should be located underneath the console right by the passenger's seat."

"Copy. I'll get it." She began to walk over the snow, eyes set completely at the helm.

"Captain, what's happening with the other team?" Andersson asked.

"- They've just headed inside, but don't you worry about that, son. Just concern yourself with your own task." The young field medic in training was feeling wounded for the reprimand – he was just being curious. Knowing that his tutor Dr. Kinloch preferred to work by herself by the control board, he took a moment to look at the rest of the inventory within the EEV. As expected, there were four cryotubes in there. No EEV could launch from the mothership without being loaded with cryotubes. Like the rest of the ship, those were also covered with thick layers of ice, making it almost impossible to see within the pods through the transparent lids sealing the sarcophagus – _almost_ impossible.

"Gripes…" he said as he took a closer look at the tube that was closest to the airlock. "This pod is occupied!"

Adrienne didn't look up from her work unscrewing the flight recorder she had found right where the captain had said it would be. "Tough luck for that poor soul," she replied. "This ship has been here for two centuries. The batteries powering the pods never lasts for that long, and it's physically impossible to survive uninterrupted hypersleep for more than maybe sixty years at most. And that's with the cryotubes of _today._"

Andersson focused, but he could not see clearly through the thick layer of ice. "Who do you think it could have been?" he asked.

"Probably someone from the crew, does it matter?" Adrienne shot back while struggling with the device. "There's nothing to be done for him."

"I'm only curious as he is the only one. The other pods are empty. You think he might have been part of the maintenance crew?"

"For all I know, he could have been a high-ranked officer who was seeking to save his own neck while leaving the other soldiers to their fate!"

"You really don't much like the military, do you?"

"I've had few reasons to do so," Adrienne admitted, still pondering about the rumors concerning her father participating in unethical military experiments. The thought was giving her a nightmare.

"How about a wager? I bet that this is a grunt against you thinking that this is an officer. Two chocolate bars when we get home. What do you say?"

Adrienne let out a short laugh. "If you really want to have a look at a frozen, mummified body to look at his insignias, then fine – be my guest. I'll take your bet." Andersson took out a plastic plate from the toolbox and started to scrape off the ice from the top of the cryotube. Meanwhile Adrienne finally got the flight recorder loose. As she was standing on her knees, she took support on the co-pilot's chair with her hand to get back on her feet – and her fingers came in contact with something lying on the seat covered by the frost. Digging out the object and brushing off the snow, she found it to be a compact disc. She wondered what it was doing discarded there, and what could it be written on it? Maybe it was somebody's music collection. That's when a loud gasp came from her intern.

"_Good lord!"_

"What? Did I win?" Adrienne asked while studying the disc.

"No, but neither did I." He looked at her with a troubled expression. "It… it's a _kid!"_

Adrienne jerked her head towards him. "What?!" Absentmindedly, she put both the disc and the flight recorder into her pouch as she made her way towards the pod. Andersson was shining his light through the transparent dome which had been cleared from ice, and just as he had said, the occupant was indeed a little child. A girl, no more than five or six years old. A pretty one too, with honey-blond tresses. Her body was perfectly preserved by the cold. This revelation caused a knot in Adrienne's intestines. Life was sacred to her, but she usually could stomach the death of warmongering soldiers. This was totally different - this was an _innocent!_ Such a young life… all wasted. It made her sad.

Even the child looked sad, her face frozen in a depressed state. She had not been happy when she was put under. At least that was all she showed. There were thankfully no traces of any panicked expressions. It meant she had died in her sleep, never knowing that the power had given out and trapping her within, burying her alive. Adrienne couldn't bear the very thought of that. She felt ill, and suddenly a bit claustrophobic. "This ship is a tomb! Let's get out of here!"

They both hurried to the exit, wanting to get back to the tractor. But before Adrienne stepped outside through the airlock, she stopped, her mind racing. There was something nagging in the back of her head – something that wasn't right.

"What are you waiting for?" Andersson asked.

"This doesn't add up," she mumbled before she turned around to look at the cryotube once more. "She's here all alone! Where's the pilot?"

"Doc, EEV:s doesn't require pilots," Andersson pointed out. "They fly down automatically!"

"Usually yes, but look at those controls at the helm!" She went back inside and shone with her light at the semi frost-covered switch board. "Had this ship come down on autopilot, all the controls would be set on 'auto'-mode – but all the switches here are manually turned off, _except_ the switch for the distress beacon! There was somebody else here! Somebody flew this craft down!"

Andersson was confused. "But… there is nobody else here. _She_ couldn't have flown it!"

"No, she couldn't. That's what makes this so strange. Why would somebody make the trouble to fly this child down here and then just leave her behind?"

"Who in his right mind would even leave the ship? It's a radioactive wasteland out there! To leave without a protective suit would mean certain death!"

"There can only be one answer:" Adrienne said, very sure of her theories. "Whoever he was, he was _already_ dying! Whatever the reason, he knew he wouldn't be around to care for her anymore. He had to leave her for her protection."

"Protection from what?" Andersson asked. "What was he dying of?"

"I have no idea… maybe he was already contaminated by the radiation. Perhaps the flight recorder will tell us. But before he left, he took measures to make sure that she was safe, and that somebody would come to pick her up! That's why he left the distress beacon on!"

"But no one came."

"No… and he must've known that there could have been a possibility that no one would answer the distress call. This is a forbidden planet; no ships come near here! It's therefore likely that he would've…" Here she stopped talking.

"What, Doc?" Andersson pressed her. "What are you thinking?" Adrienne didn't answer – instead she went to the end of the cryotube to check if her theory was sound. She scraped off the snow from the controls, and became excited.

"I was right, he _did!_ Whoever he was, he _knew_ the girl would risk being stranded here for a long time! Look at these controls! The tube is set for a _long-term hibernation!_ This isn't hypersleep… she's been frozen to a complete suspended animation – all biological activities have been halted in a controlled manner!"

Andersson shrugged. "For all the good that did her, since the batteries still ran out."

"The power may be gone, but it would have lasted for at least a century! It requires less power to maintain a frozen temperature below zero-degree than to constantly regulate vitals and such in hypersleep. By the time the batteries finally gave out, it's quite possible that this enclosed space had by then turned into this icy environment of a cave, isolating the hull, and taking over the job to maintain the chilly temperature. And since no one ever came here breaking the seal of the ice, the cold must've been constant, like in an earth cellar!"

"Wait a minute, doc, surely you're not suggesting…?" Andersson stopped, contemplating on everything Adrienne Kinloch had just said. "Do you really believe that… this child might actually still be _alive?!"_

The woman didn't have time to answer, because just then another excited voice came over the radio:

"- _Athena_, this is Bors of team one within the alien space craft! You won't _believe_ what we have just found!"

* * *

Jacob McHagen was in a mood he rarely displayed – he was overjoyed, and he had assembled his staff to share the good news.

"The report I received from the _Athena_ has confirmed all that I have read from Michael Weyland's personal documents which the chairman of Wal-Mart was kind enough to sell to me: the first xenomorph ship has _survived!_ We were all led to believe that it had been destroyed in the nuclear explosion which obliterated the colony established there, but it was an elaborate lie conducted by the Weyland-Yutani! Too bad for them that the _Hercules_ was wrecked on its expedition there, or their deception would have paid off."

McHagen's staff-members looked around at each other, all filled with new hope. Besides McHagen there were five high-ranked officers and his personal assistant in this little coalition.

"What happened to that expedition?" Lieutenant Colonel Maziq asked. "What caused it to crash?"

"We don't know," McHagen's assistant Spencer answered, looking down at his notes on an electronic pad. He was a fit blond man in his early thirties. "The crew of the _Athena_ haven't had the time to review all the data of the flight-recorder yet. But whatever the reason, it is a secondary concern."

"But what about the species itself?" the over-weighed General Berger-Hauser asked. He was the more eager one to get things done. "Were any of those found?"

"There were some unexpected circumstances upon the discovery," McHagen answered. "For us _good_ circumstances. Captain Grissom of the _Athena_ has assured me that we will soon have a live subject in our possession already!"

The staff exchanged happy glances again. "And to think of all the expenses we wasted to clone the subjects, when there were live ones to acquire from the original source this whole time!" Admiral Henderson murmured. As always he was more concerned with technical resources being spent than what he was with the lives of military personnel. He was the type of officer who wouldn't hesitate to send a whole pluton of soldiers equipped solely with bayonets against a heavily armed enemy force in order to spare ammunition.

"How are we to proceed with this, Commander?" Colonel Benelli asked. He was the analytic and calculative mind of their little group. He was also the oldest among them. "Are we to bring the species here to Earth?"

"I did consider it at first, but I have concluded that there is too much risk involved. I don't dare to have it transported through space in case something should go wrong – we've lost too much already! I have therefore ordered Captain Grissom to put the host on ice, to slow the embryo's development until we get there."

"Until _we_ get there, sir?" Lieutenant Colonel Maziq questioned. He had the lowest rank of everybody in this room, save for McHagen's assistant. Everybody suggested behind his back that he didn't climb higher in rank because he was being too cautious.

"That's right. I have pulled quite many strings, gentlemen – instead of bringing the species to a lab here, we will put up a lab _there!_ I have already set the plan in motion to set up an installation on LV-426 – a complete laboratory compound with a habitat-ring where we will carefully study and exploit the xenomorph species as we see fit!"

"On LV-426?!" Maziq gasped. "But it's highly radioactive!"

"So much the better!" McHagen said. "The radiation will serve as our 'fence' against some meddling fools who might get the idea to either spy or attempt to sabotage for us. No one would dare to go there!"

"But is it safe?"

"Don't be a sniveling coward!" McHagen spat. There was certainly some truth in Maziq being too cautious. He was as always way too concerned for his own neck. "There are always risks involved in our line of work, but the radiation will be the _least_ of our worries! The walls of the complex will keep it outside, so you won't need to worry about it at all, unless you go outside without a protective suit! Now I won't hear any more about that!

"Even as we speak, I have a team of engineers preparing three cruisers, loading them with specially prepared segments ready for assembly, together with special hand-picked recruited science- and troop personnel, and some extra medical people. We will have two structures: one will be the main lab as well as a pen for the species. The _Athena_ will remain on spot waiting for our arrival, where it will be integrated to the Habitat/Command complex and serve as a supporting lab as well as a sickbay. It has everything it needs to keep things in order until we arrive."

"Commander, is the crew of the _Athena_ really cleared to be privy to this project?" a colonel by the name of Hayes asked.

"That's why I ordered them to remain there," McHagen explained. "They must not be allowed to leave with the information. They will serve as supporting personnel or… I may have to take some drastic _measures_ depending how they will react!"

Hayes looked uncomfortable. "You mean… you might use them the same way we used the passengers on that transporter that was…"

"_Be quiet!"_ Admiral Henderson barked to the blabbermouth. "That is a _forbidden_ subject!" One major problem with Colonel Hayes was that he had developed too much qualms of conscience.

"I admit that incident was a little extreme," McHagen growled. "But I won't have us waste time arguing about what can't be changed, so shut your trap! We'll find other subjects that will serve our purposes for breeding the species, some that can put an ease to your conscience – but we can discuss that later! What I want from each and one of you now is to prepare the teams you want involved in this and put up a list of the materials we need! These transports will expend a lot of our budget, so there won't be much of a chance to go back after half of the way to pick something up you've forgotten. The ships will leave in a week, so you had better settle whatever business you have, because we will be gone for a long time! Now, are there any questions?"

There was none from his staff – it was McHagen's personal assistant Spencer who raised his hand.

"There is the little matter of the request…"

"What request?"

"From Dr. Adrienne Kinloch, Sir… about that little girl that was found frozen in stasis in the lifeboat. The doctor is convinced that she is alive, and she requests permission to try to revive her…"

Jacob McHagen became dark in his face. "What the _hell_ do you think that we will put up there on LV-426; a _daycare center?!_ I won't have a brat running around disturbing the equipment! You can tell the foolish woman that her request is _denied!_ That child will remain _right where she is!"_


	6. The disc

It took a month before the expedition finally arrived to LV-426, after a week of preparations and another three weeks of travel through space. But it was a relief for the crew of the _Athena_ when their superiors arrived – being stuck for so long within the confinement of their ship which had been their main protection against the radioactive environment of the planet while having nothing to do was beginning to drive them all mad with cabin fever.

The superiors weren't so quick with addressing them however – as soon as the three ships reached the atmosphere of LV-426, the two main cruisers began the landing preparations, ignoring the humanitarian ship already on the ground. The two main cruisers weren't standard spaceships – they were bulky and unsymmetrical in design, as if somebody had just taken a part here and there and slapped it on, not caring what the final result would look like. The two rockets had no living personnel onboard, they had been travelling alongside the escort cruiser during the whole trip by remote – but now they were to follow their own programming to touchdown on the surface of the planetoid below.

The two rockets rotated on their respective axis, changing their directions for an easier aerodynamic descent through the atmosphere. They began to drop like meteorites as gravity took hold on them, the heatshields charging up to full power to withstand the friction of the air. The reentry was so violent that no living would've been able to withstand the stresses the cruisers endured, but since there was no one aboard, it was a factor that was not needed to be taken into consideration.

Halfway down towards the surface, the retrorockets ignited and began to slow the descent. The powerful storm-winds of LV-426 slammed into the bodies of the crafts and threatened to throw them off course and send them plummeting - but the auxiliary engines helped to keep them leveled on their destination, which was on either side of the U-shaped derelict. Finally the two machines touched down on the rocky ground in a vertical position, standing up like towers. Once they were anchored and secured to the terrain, they deployed. The modules that looked like they had just been slapped on to the fuselage of the cruisers began to unfold and spread out with the aid of hidden pistons, settling into new positions. When the process was finished, two new small cities stood on the surface of Acheron. One complex stood quite tall, with four different square compartments surrounding the base of the rocket. This was the research tower, with the holding pens on ground level. On the highest peak of the tall tower was the main communications center that was yet to have a transmissions disc mounted on the top of the structure – it needed to stand as high as it could get to allow radio signals and such to break through the atmosphere.

The other cruiser didn't stand as tall as its 'companion' ship – but instead it covered more ground. The ten segments that had spread from it lay side by side in a row like terrace houses, five similar modules on each side of the center module which was standing three times as high as the rest. This was the habitat and command center complex, where most personnel would live through their duration on the planet. There was only one structure missing…

The _Athena_ came gliding in, moving towards the end of the row of the terrace houses where it would dock and connect to the segment farthest out, where it would serve as the city's medical wing. The humanitarian ship had come into position just as the first transport lander came down from the escort cruiser which was left in orbit above the planet. The lander docked at the other end of the habitat complex which would serve as the main landing bay. Jacob McHagen was the first to step out from the lander and into the complex that would serve as their new home. He found the accommodations crude, but adequate. His own personal quarters would soon be furbished to his preferred liking, as was his prerogative as the commander of the staff. When they came to the central tower, they met with the crew of the _Athena_. Captain Grissom was about to make the greeting as per regulation to the supreme commander that was standard to military rules, but he was preceded by a woman who walked right passed him, radiating absolute fury.

"Mr. McHagen!" she raged. "I have some _matters_ I would like to discuss with you _right now!_"

"Who is this insubordinate female?" McHagen asked his aide. The woman did not appreciate how the commander was speaking the question to somebody else instead of directly to her. It was a level of arrogance that she abhorred.

"My name happens to be Adrienne Kinloch, and I am fully capable of telling you that myself, thank you! As for the 'insubordination' part, that does not apply to me as I am a civilian!"

To Adrienne's chagrin, McHagen continued to refuse to acknowledge her and instead he threw a displeased look towards Captain Grissom. "I… I'm sorry, Commander," the captain stammered. "She's been like this for the past weeks, and I couldn't talk her into keeping back. She's been a real pain in the ass, I might add!"

"I have a formal complaint on how things have been done here!" Adrienne almost roared, taking no consideration to the captain's discomfort. "We currently have a man in stasis whom apparently has been infected by some hostile virus – how that happened I have no idea since I have not been allowed to go into that spaceship out there and these soldiers of yours refuse to give me any information! Like that wasn't enough, I have been declined to treat him – by _your_ orders! What kind of people are you who play with a man's life like that?! He should have been treated at the earliest convenience! Even though he's frozen, who knows what kind of damage that virus could have done to him under this time?!"

"It's because you are a civilian that you were not allowed to treat him, doctor," McHagen told her in an emotionless tone. "By military standards: until danger of possible contamination has been determined, no unqualified personal is to go near. Our own doctors will deal with the subject."

"'Subject'? He's a human in need! I took an oath to save _lives_, and I'm the closest thing you have to a Xeno-biologist, so how can you claim that I am not qualified?!"

McHagen was beginning to lose his temper. "Qualified or not, Dr. Kinloch, rules are rules! You may be working for us, but you're still not registered as a trained military!"

Adrienne scoffed. "You're one to talk about rules! You're breaking them right now! We of the _Athena_ should have remained isolated here until danger of contamination has been determined. Instead you bring a whole expedition down here and risk total exposure, risking all of your lives!"

"We will be quite safe, doctor!"

"How would you know?" Adrienne demanded.

"That information is classified!" McHagen told her sternly.

Adrienne rolled her eyes. "Well, isn't it convenient? The military always put the lid on as soon as it becomes too sensitive. I understand that you want the technology of that derelict, but is it really worth risking your health?"

"Doctor, you are starting to get _too_ nosy! I've already said more than you have a need to know! This discussion is _terminated!_ The subject you are so concerned about is no longer your responsibility, my own personnel will deal with the matter from here."

Adrienne wasn't so willing to let certain matters drop though. "And what of the frozen girl? How long is she to be kept on ice?"

A dark look came over McHagen's eyes. "For as long as I _say_ so! I won't have snoopy children running around the complex, and that's final! Don't disturb me with that matter again! Now I won't have any more time wasted! The two complexes are in place, but there's still some bolts to be tightened and connections to be manually made – so let's get the engineering crew down here and get to work! I want it ready to be running by next dawn!"

"But, Sir…?" Captain Grissom objected. "That's not enough time! The days are short here, the planet's only got a two-hour rotation…"

"And your point is…?" McHagen asked with a stern look. The captain sighed, understanding that the commander would not listen to any excuses. He began to organize the men and started issuing orders…

* * *

Six weeks went by, and the two complexes were in full operation and the daily routines were settled. Already they had their first alien specimen locked in a holding pen of the research tower, and they had a couple of eggs. Soon they would catch up to the point where the research went haywire onboard the USM _Auriga_, but McHagen had no intention of repeating the mistakes the scientists had made back then. Once he had more specimens, he would not allow several of the creatures to share the same cage, where two of them had slaughtered a third, allowing its acidic blood to open an escape route for them.

No, this time the holding pens were on ground-level, with nothing but solid rock underneath. _Try bleeding your way out of there._

But they were not there yet. McHagen needed hosts to breed more of the creatures, and it was that which they all were waiting for right now. Only a select few of the personnel whom were involved deeply enough into the project knew what was going on and what they were planning to do. Those that had the special clearance were all stationed at the research tower complex, (with the exception of Jacob McHagen and his staff who lived in comfort in the habitat complex), and as good as nothing that went on over there left the structure. The rest of the crew that had been brought in were all kept in the dark about the true purpose of the operation. Those were all stationed in the habitat complex, doing regular duty.

Adrienne Kinloch was naturally one of those who had been confined to the personnel complex as she was a civilian, and it made her furious. There was so much that she would be able to contribute with, and she had been cut off completely. She had heard rumors from her former crewmembers of the _Athena_ of there being a fossilized carcass of an alien species aboard the spaceship, sitting in a chair. How she would have loved to examine it, and learn the secrets of another sentient culture. The others could cannibalize the ship for the technological stuff for all she cared, but she really wanted to look into the space jockey's DNA. If she wasn't allowed to do even that, then her presence was superfluous on the planet. She wanted off! Her job that she had been assigned to right now together with her 'intern' Andersson was to document the medical files of all expedition members present on the planet into the _Athena's_ main computer – quite a waste of her talents in her opinion.

Feeling sick of the whole situation, she put another compact disc into the reader and called up the files of the individual it belonged to, and tiredly she began to transfer the information into the database. Andersson, who had just been at the diner to get some snacks came back, looking excited.

"Hey, have you heard? The transport ship is returning from Earth, and people say that there's a new bunch of equipment and crew arriving with it for something special. About time some excitement happens here!"

Adrienne snorted. "They're bringing more people in and you call that exciting? You're so naïve, Andersson – whatever they're planning to do with the new staff, you can bet that we won't be part of it! They tell us nothing what goes on in the other complex – all that'll happen is that we will get another load of garbage to register!"

"I don't understand what your problem is, Doc?" Andersson said a little sourly as he sat down. "I for one still feel that we are part of something big, and if we do our work with grandeur, I'm sure that they will let us in sooner or later. That's the way with the army: you work hard, you earn your promotions, and then you will be found trustworthy for new positions."

Adrienne had to bite back a sour remark of her own. The young green shirt still had much to learn. But let him live with his delusions – the doctor had another idea for herself. The two complexes couldn't hold that many people – resources would become too limited. If they were looking to exchange personnel, then perhaps she could hitch a ride back home with the transport ship the next time it would head back for Earth. She got up from her chair, leaving her intern to continue handling the data that was to be uploaded while she was going to look up the flyboys of the transport ship to speak to them about going with them when they left.

The _Athena_ was connected to the far end of the habitat complex – she had to walk through the entire row of modules to get to the docking port for landers on the other side. She got there just in time as the first lander was settling down outside – but she wondered what all the soldiers were doing there? It appeared that everyone who was stationed in the complex stood waiting by the airlock. Was there another head honcho coming in and they were to stand salute to greet him? Typical if that was the case. She remained in the back, straining her ears to listen in to what they were saying amongst themselves.

"Gotta admit, I never expected this to be part of my duty in my career," one soldier said.

"Tell me about it," another replied. "Wonder what the deal is? Are they brought here for penal labor?"

"Highly unlikely!" another spoke up. "These assholes are all on death sentence! They were due to be executed before somebody stepped in and began hauling their asses here!"

"What're they planning? Are we to be a firing squad?!"

An icy feeling was gripping on to Adrienne's intestines. What was going on here? What was this talk about people that were about to die?

"No need to worry about that," another soldier said. "We're only supposed to herd them into the transport bus which in turn will drive them over to the other complex. The grunts stationed over there will handle whatever's coming to them."

"Hey, shut your traps now! The lander's docked and the airlock is pressurizing. Be ready with your rifles – bayonets only! No one fires unless I say you can!"

Every soldier stood on either side of the airlock with their rifles pointed outwards. A signal was heard, and the doors rolled aside. From the inside of the lander, a harsh voice gave a command: "All right, move it!"

From the lander, a row of men staggered out. They couldn't walk straight as their hands as well as their feet were bound in chains. Adrienne remained in the back, feeling totally bewildered. The new people that had been brought were all convicted prisoners.

"What are we doing here?" the lead prisoner growled. "What are you going to do with us?"

"Shut it, Gregor, and keep moving!" was the reply he got.

Adrienne recalled the name… Juan S. Gregor, the Nashville slasher. Sentenced to death for 39 cases of murder.

There was a weird tension in the atmosphere as the prisoners sloughed out into the corridor. They all radiated hatred and discomfort, which wasn't so strange as they were all brutal murderers and rapists. There was suddenly a commotion in the middle of the line as one of the newcomers was making a charge against one of the soldiers and attempted to grab his weapon – but the army man retaliated and shoved the barrel of his rifle against his mid-section... the barrel that was equipped with a bayonet.

"Aargh! Ya' damn son-of-a-bitch… ya' cut me!"

"Don't like getting what you yourself delivered, do you, Dale?"

Adrienne knew of that one as well: Shia Dale, the Toronto butcher – no more than a boy with very handsome features. It was the boyish looks he used in order to charm teenage girls to make them fall head-over-the-heels in love with him – but as soon as he got alone with them, his sadist nature was revealed. Dale had a sickly fascination for having sex with maimed bodies. How he had his way with them was too gruesome to describe.

With the soldiers keeping them in line, the prisoners were herded towards the 'garage' in the middle module. There a special built bus was waiting to drive them over to the tower complex. The bus was airtight and shielded against the radiation outside. It was the only means of getting in and out from the research tower. There were no hazard suits in the other complex – no one could leave unless they were allowed to. If somebody tried doing that without waiting for the bus, he would succumb to radiation poisoning of LV-426's atmosphere. No one said it loud, but as an effect of that rule, the scientists and soldiers alike stationed over at the research complex were like prisoners themselves.

Sixteen prisoners had disembarked from the lander and were now boarding the bus. Adrienne didn't feel like talking to the crew of the lander anymore to ask for a ride off the rock. This new development had given her a feeling of un-ease, and she needed to think it over before she took any drastic decisions. What did Jacob McHagen want with a bunch of convicted felons?

And not just any kind of felons: these were the lowest of the low – the scum of Earth who lived by brooding violence. Adrienne was repulsed by that kind of people as life was precious to her, while they liked to snuff it out like nothing just for the sheer lust of doing it – but she wasn't sure how she felt for the fact that they had been sentenced to death for their crimes. She found it somewhat morally unethical – how did that make the law of justice any better than them?

Adrienne came back to the terminal room of the humanitarian ship and sat heavily down on her chair, lost in thoughts.

"Didn't find anything good to eat, Doc?" Andersson asked. He had thought that Adrienne had gone to the diner to get a snack, just like he had before.

"I found the goods delivered to be distasteful," she answered cryptically.

"Hmm, perhaps I should have another look myself later," Andersson commented - he was completely oblivious to what Adrienne actually had referred to. Being indifferent to the fact that his 'mentor' appeared to be in a troubled mood, Andersson picked another CD at random to put into the reader. As he inserted it, he was a little bewildered that it didn't show the documents written on it on the screen as fast as the others – it took a little time for the computer to search the disc. But soon a message came up on the screen, one that made him a little more confused.

VIDEO LOADING: STAND BY:

"A video?" Andersson said to his companion by his side. "What could this be about?" Adrienne had no answer to give. There should be no video clips on the standard personnel files. Both of them looked with interest as the clip began to play. It began with a large text which filled up the whole screen:

THIS IS A WARNING CONCERNING THE HOSTILE ORGANISM KNOWN AS XENOMORPH XX121 –

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES MUST ANYONE COME IN CONTACT WITH THIS SPECIES!

UPON POSSIBLE ENCOUNTER: DO NOT ENGAGE –

EVACUATE THE PREMISES AND DO NOT PURSUE CONTACT!

FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN CERTAIN DEATH!

AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS!

Both Adrienne and Andersson threw a look at each other – then they turned their eyes back to the screen. An animated cartoon of a sorts followed after the text. It was a simple drawing of a planet which quickly zoomed in towards the surface and focused on a pictured structure resting on a cliff. It was a caricature of the U-shaped U.F.O. that was right outside this very complex in real-time. A text rolled over the screen:

FIRST KNOWN CONTACT:

ZETA II RETICULI SYSTEM, PLANETOID LV-426 – SPACESHIP OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN, YEAR 2122.

An animated featureless human walked in and approached an ovoid-shaped rock with a cross lined on top. As the cartoonish humanoid came too close, the top of the rock opened and a crab-looking creature with a long tail jumped out and attached itself to the face. The humanoid collapsed and appeared unconscious – then the crab-creature fell off and disappeared off screen. The humanoid rose, acted disoriented – and then suddenly the torso exploded, revealing another creature that jumped out. The humanoid was without a doubt dead, but the parasitic creature grew quickly on the screen and metamorphosed into a large nightmarish appearance with an elongated head without eyes, but with dorsal horns protruding from the back of a torso that had the ribcage outside of the body, and a long scorpion tail.

ONE CREATURE CAUSED THE DESTRUCTION OF DEEP-SPACE COMMERCIAL TUG _NOSTROMO!_

SIX CREW-MEMBERS DEAD!

Two more humanoids appeared on the screen, each carrying a rifle. One of them shot at the cartoonish behemoth, causing it to bleed. In a typical cartoonish way, the 'blood' erupted like a geyser and sprayed over the 'man' that had fired. The caricature of the man disintegrated on screen, dissolving from head to feet. The text continued to roll.

HIGHLY CONCENTRATED ACID FOR BLOOD –

SUPERIOR REGENERATIVE CAPABILITY –

EXTREMELY HARD TO KILL!

Although shot, the cartoonish creature wouldn't go down. Instead it made a grab for the other featureless man, carried him off and slammed him into a rock-wall where he remained. There was another of those rock-like eggs beside him, and the process repeated as with the first man. When the second creature had emerged and grown into a similar creature as the former, the picture widened to reveal that the wall had many more people cocooned to it, and with several monsters standing around them. The text rolled again.

SPECIES DESTROYED TERRA-FORMING COLONY OF HADLEY'S HOPE ON LV-426, YEAR 2179:

158 COLONISTS DEAD TOGETHER WITH 12 MARINE SOLDIERS!

SPECIES DESTROYED MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON ON FIORINA "FURY" 161, YEAR 2179.

27 PRISONERS AND STAFF PERSONNEL DEAD!

MAIN PERPETRATOR: WELAND-YUTANI COMPANY!

EXECS DELIBERATELY EXPOSED VICTIMS TO XENOMORPH XX121 DESPITE KNOWING THE HOSTILITY OF THE SPECIES AS THEY WANTED THE CREATURE FOR RESEARCH DEPARTMENT.

COMPANY POLICY: LIFE-FORM PRIORITY ONE – ALL OTHER PRIORITIES RESCINDED!

CREW AND PERSONNEL EXPENDABLE!

COMPLETE RECORDS AND DATA INCLUDED ON THIS DISC!

PROPERTY OF REBECCA JORDEN: LAST SURVIVOR OF HADLEY'S HOPE.

MESSAGE ENDS.

The video-clip ended. Both Adrienne and her intern sat looking at the empty screen baffled. Andersson was the first to recover.

"What is this? Some kind of a home-made horror movie?"

"Who would have the time to make that?" Adrienne commented. "Where'd you find that disc?"

Andersson took it out of the reader of the terminal and examined it. "I believe this is the disc I found lying around the tool-bench. How it ended up there I don't know. I only took it here to look through it later…"

Adrienne took it from him and looked at it more closely. "Good lord!" she gasped. "This is the disc I found in the _EEV!_ I'd totally forgotten all about it!" She put it back in the player and they looked at the video-clip again. Afterwards, Adrienne was feeling anxious – and scared.

"I say that it has to be some kind of hoax," Andersson said.

"What if it isn't?" Adrienne countered. "What do we know about that ship out there? We were never allowed to go inside it! That incident with Bors and Forster… what if it's _connected_ to this?!"

"No way!" Andersson was skeptical. "There's no way such a creature can exist! It's ludicrous!"

"But there's so much _data_…!" Adrienne was looking at screen; there were many catalogues listed there, with so many inviting filenames: _The stages/variants of Xenomorph XX121:_ the sub-catalogues said:

_The Eggs, The Facehuggers, The Chest Burster, The Worker Drones, The Warriors, The Queen, The Dog Alien, The faulty/crazed Drone…_

_The anatomy of Xenomorph XX121: The Acid blood, The Royal Jelly, The growth rate of the Chest Burster, The Hosts…_

With so many things Adrienne as a biologist wanted to look at, she hardly knew where to start. She clicked on a catalogue at random…

ACCESS DENIED!

PROPERTY OF REBECCA JORDEN!

QUESTION: WHO BECAME HONORY CITIZEN OF HADLEY'S HOPE: DATE: 29 MARCH 2178?

ANSWER: _**\\_**_.

Adrienne looked at the screen dumbfounded. She tried another file, only to have the sign showing up again, denying her access – there was only another question this time.

"Someone has taken great lengths to keep people out of it," she muttered. She gave up after another five attempts on other files, only to get the same sign over and over, with more different questions significant to an era of time and situation that she had no knowledge of. Only the video-clip was unrestricted and available to them. It was a real torment: there had to be tons of invaluable information written there, and she couldn't get into any of them. "Without the correct answers, it won't let us see anything else!"

Andersson let out a short laugh. "Whoever this Rebecca Jorden was, she was very particular about who she wanted to share her research with, obviously. Wonder what her connection was with the frozen kid we found on that lifeboat? Mother, perhaps?"

Adrienne didn't tell Andersson that there was nothing that really indicated that Rebecca Jorden was the actual writer of this research disc - it could just as well have been somebody else. After all, whoever that had flown that EEV down knew that he was going to die, that's probably why he had left the craft. And what better way to ensure that the disc would survive than by entrusting it to another would-be survivor? It could just as well be the frozen little girl who in fact was Rebecca Jorden – but since Adrienne had nothing to back up that theory with, she kept it to herself in case she was mistaken.

The excessive value of the disc however was something she could not keep to herself. Although she didn't really want to have anything to do with the arrogant Supreme Commander Jacob McHagen, she knew that this had to be taken straight to him. If there really was such a hostile organism onboard the U.F.O. ship out there, then the military engineers stripping it had to be warned. She took the disc and went to see him immediately. Andersson followed his mentor close behind, not fully comprehending what she was so worked up about.

Like most men who had gained too much power to their disposal, McHagen's pomposity had him lay claim to the top floors of the tower that made the central point of the habitat complex. Those floors were accessible by the only elevator in the structure which was the commander's personal lift for him and his staff, and there was a guard stationed at the bottom so that no unauthorized individual would use it by his or her own accord. The stairwell leading up was also locked, and had a sentry standing on post outside. The guard before the elevator turned to Adrienne as she and her intern approached, their route leading directly to the pair of doors.

"Hold it, Doc, where do you think you're headed?"

"I need to speak to Mr. McHagen!"

"He's not seeing anybody right now, as he is in meeting with the staff on the second floor. No one goes there unless one is summoned, you know that."

"This can't wait!" she urged.

"It'll have to," the guard said without care.

Adrienne grimaced, and thought this through. "All right," she relented. "At least allow us to go up to the top floor where McHagen's office is and let me lay a note there that I need to speak to him at the earliest convenience. It's too important to leave it in an electronic que."

"You're not allowed to go up there on your own!" the guard said.

"Then ride with us up there," Adrienne said. "It will only take a minute."

"But… I can't just leave my post?!"

"Listen, soldier, we're going up there, with or without you!" she said as she pressed the call button. "The sooner you make up your mind, the sooner we will be out of your hair!"

The lift quickly arrived, and the pair of doors opened, ready to admit the passengers.

"One minute?" the soldier asked.

"That's all," Adrienne said.

Although hesitant, the guard followed Andersson and her in. To make up her point, she pressed the button for the third floor. The doors closed, and the car began its ascend. After a quick ride they arrived at the top level where Jacob McHagen's office were. "Leave your note, then," the soldier said as they began stepping out.

"Hold on, my shoe feels like it's slipping off…" Adrienne leaned against the wall with one hand as she lifted her foot to correct her shoe, and she 'accidently' came in contact with the button for the second floor. "Oops," she said innocently as the doors closed again, separating her from the startled soldier who realized that he had just been duped. Adrienne and Andersson rode down to the floor she really wanted, and she stepped out with determined steps.

What she saw turned her insides to ice.

Jacob McHagen who had a strange fondness for glass had the conference room screened off with panes of the transparent material as walls – while she could hear no sounds, she could clearly see what was going on inside. Every member of McHagen's staff sat turned towards the back wall, which was a corner to corner imagery screen, one that currently was active. And the screen was showing a horror movie – only, to her own horror, this was a live image.

The screen showed the prisoners that had arrived earlier that same day, everybody being strapped to a rack in an unfamiliar chamber, which she understood was part of the other complex on the other side of the derelict. The prisoners had been positioned in a row, and they were furiously struggling against their bonds. And it was no wonder why…

From a previously sealed compartment, a 'train' of wagons rolled out in front of the bound prisoners, each being loaded with an ovoid organic shape with an odd orifice shaped as a cross on the cusp. Adrienne suddenly had trouble breathing – it was the same egg-like things that the video-clip had warned them about! They actually _existed!_ But what were McHagen and his people _doing_ with them?

She could see the other staff-members in the conference room: they all looked nervous; their faces devoid of color. Some were sweating, others were clasping at their throats as if they couldn't breathe. Not even McHagen was unmoved, but he looked more interested than anything else. As soon as Adrienne was able to think more clearly, she realized that this wasn't an accident – this was being done _deliberately!_

She barely registered the signal coming from the elevator behind her. She had known all along that the soldier she had left on the top floor would come after the two of them, but that was the last thing on her mind. She threw open the glass door and stormed inside the conference room, totally outraged.

"What the hell are you _doing?!_" she screamed.

"What are _you_ doing here?!" McHagen roared in his own anger. The other staff members sat quietly, as if they were ashamed of having been caught in the act. The soldier who had neglected his duty rushed in behind Adrienne, looking terrified.

"I'm sorry, Sir, they tricked me," he stammered as he grabbed hold on Andersson and was about to reach in to pull doctor Kinloch out of there. "She said she was going to…" But then he stopped as he caught sight of the view-screen.

"That is a highly deadly organism!" Adrienne pointed out, indicating to the drama going on the screen. On the monitor, the eggs were quivering and the four flaps on each of them were opening. "They're breeding at the expense of those peoples' lives, and they'll turn into unstoppable beasts that'll kill everything in its path!"

McHagen was looking at the intruding doctor incredulously. "How do you know that? How did you find out how they breed?"

Adrienne looked shocked. "Wait a minute… you mean you already _know_ what they are?!"

"This isn't our first road-trip with those things, doctor!" McHagen admitted. "Did you really think that the nuclear reactor of the colony on this planet just suddenly blew up out of the blue 200 years ago? And that the colonists wouldn't have tried to stop a potential meltdown? They were all wiped out by this species prior to that!"

"If you knew what these things are, then what exactly are you _doing_ with them to those prisoners?! Why are you…" Then she stopped as the horrible truth hit her. "You're not after the technology of the ship! You want _those!_ You're after the _species!_ Just like the Weyland-Yutani Company, you are seeking those creatures for studying, and you're willing to sacrifice people in the process! You… you _monsters!_"

"You seem to know an awful lot, Doctor Kinloch," McHagen said. "But I don't understand how you _can_ know? How did you find out about them?"

"We found a disc that contained highly detailed information about the species, Mr. McHagen," Andersson stupidly spoke up.

Adrienne suddenly knew that this was not information they could share with Jacob McHagen. Her first intention had been to show the disc to him to warn him of the potential danger the derelict presented – but now as she understood that the hostile species had been the main quarry, she realized that all the information stored on the disc could in fact _help_ the military to make use of the deadly organism, and she was not prepared to hand them that advantage. The disc had suddenly become a dangerous weapon, and they needed to keep its existence under silence. "Quiet!" she hissed at her intern. But the damage was already done.

"What disc?" McHagen demanded.

"It was found in the EEV, Commander," Andersson continued to spill. "It seems to contain a whole lot of information on the species – a journal of sorts."

"What are you doing?" Adrienne turned to the young fool. "I told you to be _quiet!_"

"No, I will _not_ be quiet, doctor!" Andersson said rebelliously. "Remember what I said before? We're part of something big here, and I want in! If that disc is my ticket, then I'm willing to pay the price!"

Adrienne was seeing her intern with new eyes, and she did not like what she saw at all. "You _Judas!_ Are you really willing to stand by and allow them to kill all those people?!" On the screen, each of the victims had been face-raped by the parasites residing within the eggs, and they slumped in their bounds, rendered unconscious.

"They're convicted prisoners," Andersson said with a shrug. "All of them murderers whom already have been sentenced to death. I see no problem with it."

"It goes against our sacred oath to save lives!" Adrienne urged.

"My life is devoted to _science!_" Andersson pointed out. In his hand he held the disc which he somehow had lifted from her pocket without her noticing it. "And to me this looks exactly what it is. Too bad you can't see it." The traitorous intern gave the disc to the commander.

"Your true colors have been revealed, Andersson," Adrienne growled, shooting an icy glare at the backstabber. "My father would've loved you!"

"Mr. Andersson has made his choice, Dr. Kinloch," McHagen said with a smug look on his face. "Now what will you do?"

"I will have _no_ part of this!" Adrienne spat. "And I certainly won't do any more research for you! I _quit!_"

"Have it your way, Dr. Kinloch," McHagen said. "But don't think for a minute that we will let you leave this planet with the knowledge of what you have learned here. You are confined to quarters for the time being, until we have figured out what we will do with you! Get her out of here!"

As the guard who earlier had failed his duty pulled the now unemployed doctor to her confinement, McHagen was left looking greedily at the disc that had been delivered in his hand. "A whole journal of the species in this? I have to see it with my own eyes."

Since the infestation process of the facehuggers was over with, McHagen called up the contents of the disc to be displayed on the giant view-screen. Just like before, the video-clip containing the warning of the species was automatically played, and afterwards the different catalogues were presented. McHagen almost drooled as he saw the file names, especially the technical data further down:

_Energy source of derelict, Stealth barrier, Energy sprinkler, Alien containment theory…_

McHagen clicked on the last file to learn more of the containment theory – the result he got was not pleasing to him at all.

ACCESS DENIED!

PROPERTY OF REBECCA JORDEN!

QUESTION: WHAT WAS THE HONORED TITLE GIVEN FOR BEING THE NUMEROUS TIME WINNER OF THE GAME MONSTER MAZE?

ANSWER: _**\\_**_.

"That's what we got every time we tried to access the files as well," Andersson said, trying to be helpful. "We get different questions every time. It seems only the video-clip is fully available to us…"

McHagen angrily took the disc out of the reader again and put it into the hands of Admiral Henderson. "Put your team on this! Crack the codes! Make it your top priority! I want that data A.S.A.P.!" Henderson nodded and strode out of the conference room immediately to carry out the orders.

"The rest of you can get out of here as well!" McHagen said to the rest of the people present. "There isn't more to be done until the embryos emerge anyway!" The other staff members stood up and walked out – but not too quickly as they otherwise would have liked. They did not want to show the commander that they were eager to get out of there after having witnessed the facehugger implantation on the screen. Only one remained with McHagen.

"Uhm, Sir…" Andersson said carefully. "As I have proven my loyalty, is there perhaps a chance that I could…?"

"Yes, yes, yes," McHagen replied impatiently, waving him off as he felt that he had no time for the runt's ambitious requests. "I'm sure we can find a suitable post for you," he said in passing as he headed for the elevator to go up to his own office. Andersson was left standing alone in the conference room, wondering if he somehow just had sold his soul to the devil for nothing at all.

* * *

But McHagen's people had no success in accessing the disc though as it was too heavily encrypted. In the days that followed, sixteen Xenomorphs emerged and was locked up in a separate holding pen for closer study while they grew to their full size, for all the good it did the scientists. Despite all the security measures they had taken, as they attempted to be careful not to repeat the mistakes that had happened on the _Auriga_, it didn't help at all. The staff-members at the habitat complex weren't sure how it happened, but the aliens broke free of their confinement two weeks later as they always did, and that marked the time when hell broke loose once more on LV-426.


	7. The Japanese connection

**(Around ten weeks before the alien breakout on LV-426...)**

It had barely been a month after Vriess had died. The funeral for their deceased crewmate had been a simple one, hardly even worth mentioning. His body had simply been discarded into space, practically the same way Ripley remembered, how she and her former crew had expelled Kane's body from the _Nostromo_ almost three hundred years ago. Just like then, no words had been said for Vriess, much to Call's displeasure. It seemed as if she was the only one who really took the time to mourn her friend, the others remained coldheartedly impassive of his demise. What else was to be expected of a band of pirates?

Ripley wouldn't let Vriess' absence affect the crew of the _Betty_ anyhow; she still only had the matter of their 'mission' in mind. She was completely set out to find every scrap of material Michael Weyland had left behind concerning the aliens - nothing else concerned her. Her quest to find the materials had led her and her band of rogues to attack another Wal-Mart-connected storage compound. The attack had been basically the same as the previous: breaking in by force, incapacitating the opposing personnel by sustaining them massive injuries, (most of them having been done by Ripley,) and gaining access to the main control room where Call could access the computers. The Auton was at this moment busy with searching the databanks while Ripley and the rest of her companions stood to the side, keeping watch on the hostages they had taken.

Although Call as a synthetic being was quickly able to search through all the databanks, Ripley was growing impatient anyway. These raids were starting to get to even her now. She desperately wanted to find the materials so that she could exterminate the last threat of the xenomorphic creatures to the galaxy and finally get on with her life. What she really was going to do with her life once it was finished was something she hadn't thought of yet. She would just have to cross that bridge when she got to it.

It almost felt like an eternity to Ripley, but Call disconnected herself from the computers after only 90 seconds, and she turned to face her captain. "Well?" Ripley demanded.

"No," Call answered shortly.

Another drawn blank. In extreme frustration, Ripley slammed her fist down on a nearby table, effectively breaking it in two. The two halves collapsed to the floor, spreading data-discs, papers, computers, and plenty of other stuff over the carpet.

"Shall we start questioning these lowlifes?" Johner asked, indicating to the hostages.

"What good will that do?" Call objected. "They won't know any more than what anybody else did on our previous raids! Wherever the stuff is, the information is so cleverly concealed that I'm beginning to think it has never been added to any computer-files at all! Otherwise it is something important that we have missed… we're clearly looking in the wrong places."

"Oh, you think?" Ripley snarled. Call recognized the look the other woman displayed: it was the same as when that soldier had managed to shoot her in the arm a month ago and as a result she had almost beaten him to death. Ripley looked like she was ready to kill somebody. She must once again be under the influence of her darker side personality which she had named 'Raksha'. It was a dangerous situation: the predatory entity could very well be fueling her anger and disappointment to the brink of sending Ripley over the edge. It was as dangerous to Call as it was to everybody else, but she had to convince the other woman that they should leave before they were discovered and get caught there by the local authorities who probably were on their way as they spoke. Besides, Call couldn't risk having Ripley's wrath causing somebody to get killed. If Ripley ended up murdering somebody, then Raksha would win.

By sheer miracle, at least from Call's point of view, they managed to get out of there, boarding the _Betty_ and leave without Ripley going into a tantrum. But they could all see that the woman was boiling underneath, so no one dared to address her in fear of a harsh reprimand. As Call piloted the ship away, having taken over the sticks now after Vriess' death, the rest of the pirates went on with their own business. Ripley went back to her spot of solitude, glaring out of her viewport – watching, but not really seeing anything.

After a few hours, the _Betty_ stabilized in orbit above the Earth and Call could leave the ship on autopilot. To her surprise, she found that the rest of the people, save for Zack Ryan, were waiting for her as she stepped out from the cockpit. Johner was the first to speak out.

"Something needs to be done, Annalee!"

"What's on your mind?" Call asked.

"We're all seeing how our acting captain is turning more aggressive every day," Keevan Felger pointed out.

"How long do you figure it will take before she lashes out on us all without being provoked?" Naavek followed for his brother.

Call sighed. "I can fully understand why you're feeling concerned. There's a raging battle going on within Ripley's mind, and I fear that the wrong side is winning."

"Maybe we should jump ship while we still got time?" Johner suggested.

"I have a feeling she won't take lightly to desertion – or any kind of mutiny for that matter."

"But she's so obsessed with this quest of hers," Keevan input. "It's like a madness!"

"It's her only world," Call reluctantly admitted. "Her sole purpose for existence. She doesn't know anything else. Though I fear that her darker side is trying to steer her into a different path – one that will spell doom for her and for the rest of us."

"Then she _is_ mad," Naavek said. "And Johner's right. We should consider abandoning this boat."

"No!" Call said with a bit of force. "We have to follow through! We have to find the materials and destroy those – maybe then Ripley will find some kind of peace and her darker side will have no more reason to try to manipulate her. We owe her that!"

"'We?'" Johner snorted. "Only you and I are left of the original crew who got dragged into the mess with the military last year, and I sure don't feel any kind of obligation to her! Sometimes I find myself wondering why I'm still hanging around in this junkheap!"

"Because you really don't have anywhere else to go," Call pointed out.

"Don't get smart with me, Annalee!" Johner warned. "If you want to play saint for Ripley's sanity, then be my guest! But I don't feel like being a potential target for her tantrums anymore! Either you find a solution that will change the circumstances around here, or I'm getting off the next time we land! I'm through with this game!"

The twins nodded in agreement, indicating that they too would step off. Call felt a burden falling heavily on her shoulders. Johner and the brothers walked off, leaving Call with the responsibility to save this group. For a moment she stopped, wondering why it was so important for her to do that?

_Because I am programmed to!_ Not for the first time Call cursed her true nature. It was in her core to preserve humanity. She understood the danger the xenomorphs presented, and for the sake of the human kind she felt that the last remnants of them had to be wiped out. But she couldn't do it legally, that's why she needed this band of pirates to get the job done. But even that was now beginning to fall apart. These fruitless raids were getting to all of them, the full purpose of their task losing the meaning.

Call knew that the only way to keep the group together and to get their mission back on track was to find where Wal-Mart had put the left-over materials they were looking for from the old Weyland-Yutani Company, but where was she going to look? The facilities they had hit so far had all been high-leveled security installations, the importance of the extraterrestrial life-form should grant no lesser than that. But that didn't appear to be the case. There was something they had missed – but Call couldn't for the world figure out what.

Call realized that she would have to do a thorough search of everything that was concerning Wal-Mart if there were to be any hopes to find what they were looking for – she would have to start completely from the beginning. No matter how much she hated it, she was going to have to connect to the network once again, hook up to the Internet and cover the complete background of Wal-Mart. The answer had to be there somewhere…

* * *

Ripley stood alone in her spot at the aft section of the _Betty_, gazing out the viewport, but without registering what was out there. Her thoughts were in turmoil, and she had trouble focusing. She was in such rage, tired of her inability to reach her goals, goals that she wasn't even sure were her own any more. Why was she looking for the remains of the alien operations Weyland had orchestrated anyway? What did she hope to gain?

Maybe she was tired of always having to be dragged into it? Maybe it was because of humanity's constant stupidity to always seek out those beasts that compelled her to take action so that she wouldn't have to become involved in it anymore? She died 200 years ago to wipe out the species, and what did she get for that? They'd dragged her into it again, resurrecting her in order to get the specimens, only to have the xenomorphs kill the fools again for their arrogance, leaving Ripley with the job to eradicate them one more time.

Why should she even care? Why not just let the fools kill themselves? If people want the creatures so badly, then why not just let them have them? Let them _die_ for their stupidity!

The problem lay with that there was no escape when concerning the species. They were her curse, part of her for what felt like forever. As long as they existed, she would never be free. Not even death had kept her liberated from their curse. The xenomorphs would just keep coming back, over and over and always drag her into it, no matter how much she preferred not to be.

_-You can never beat them,_ an evil voice said in her head. The darker part of her physiology, the entity she called Raksha. _-If you can't beat them, then join them. Be one of them. They are your children. __**Our**__ children!_

_My children are dead,_ Ripley thought gloomily in reply, once more feeling the stabbing pain in her heart for her lost young – for Amanda, and for Newt.

_-We can have more,_ her darker side responded. -_Why care about humans? They only seek to destroy themselves. Let them. Our children will go on, for all eternity. They are our future, our love, our precious! That is what you want, isn't it? To have children to love and to cherish… and they will love you in return. They won't betray you as the humans do._

Ripley shivered as she heard Raksha's words in her head, because due to the alien blending from her resurrection, the idea sounded tempting. The thought of having hundreds of children was intoxicating and seducing. The aliens would never betray their own kind as humans constantly did…

That particular line of thought triggered a memory: '_You know, Burke, I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage.'_

Ripley could feel a euphoric sense of triumph rise in the back of her head where her darker side resided – the memory served well to prove Raksha's point. Humans were untrustworthy, not worth spending efforts to try and save. Maybe she should reconsider her quest… her goals…

_Don't go! Please!_

_That_ hit her like a sledgehammer, making her actually wince in surprise and of shock. A tiny, but intensive plead in her head – and at the same time she could feel a ghost of a desperate tug at her wrist. Newt's voice – the voice she always listened to… it was like it was begging her to stay on the path.

_I'm not going to leave you, Newt. That's a promise._

_You promise?_

_Cross my heart._

_And hope to die?_

_And hope to die._

_-But you broke that promise, didn't you?_

That last thought was from her darker side. The words cut into her heart like a blunt knife.

_-You betrayed her._

_NO! She was __**taken**__ from me! The aliens killed her!_

Raksha's voice continued to hiss in the back of her mind. -_My kind wasn't completely responsible for her death, and you know it. The escape pod malfunctioned and that's what caused it to crash. But you did something worse: you mutilated her._

An image was beginning to appear in Ripley's inner eye – an image she did _not_ want to see. _Anything but that! _she desperately cried in her mind._ Please, not __**that**__!_

She saw an image of the child - her child laying on a table… pale, exposed, and lifeless eyes staring up on her. And there was also the doctor; Clemens, (it was unbelievable that she remembered his name,) carving into her body, opening up her ribcage, prying her open… Ripley sobbed, and tried to no avail to cover her eyes, trying to block out the horrible scene. But her own guilt kept it there, because that male doctor had performed the autopsy by _her_ request – _she_ had done that to the little girl.

_-There was no reason to do that,_ Raksha's voice said with a hint of a glee. -_You __**knew**__ she wasn't infested! Deep down you knew it all along! You betrayed her, mutilated her – and then you simply discarded her by dumping her into that furnace!_

"_**Shut up!**__" _Ripley screamed loudly out into empty air while clutching her head. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. _She was __**dead!**__ What else should I have done?_

_-She would've earned nothing less but a marked gravestone,_ Raksha said. -_But you wouldn't even give her that. Obviously, she wasn't really worth that much to you, was she?_

_**She was!**_ Ripley roared at her darker self. _I __**loved**__ that child! I loved her as if she had been my own, just as much as I loved Amanda!_

_-You loved them, and yet you abandoned them both._

_It was because of __**you! **_Ripley growled._ Because **you** came into my life!_

_-It wasn't because of us… it was because of the __**Company!**__ Because of __**humans!**_

Ripley paused, as the magnitude of Raksha's words hit her.

_-It was the __**Company**__ that led you to us! Hadn't it been for them, none of this would've happened. You would have gone back to Amanda in time for her eleventh birthday, watched her grow and get married. You would perhaps never have met Newt, but the pain for losing her would never have been yours to carry. Tell me, Ripley, who is it that you really hate? Who is really responsible? And do you really feel those people worth saving? Why should they live and reap the benefits of life when you were denied that? If they want us so badly, then let them have us! They'll die, as it will be their just fate. But you and I will live, alongside the children they will help create. Humans have brought you nothing but pain, but we will give you love – all that you ever wanted. The bonus of it all will be that you will never have to feel fear of us again. Join me, Ripley, and together we will seed the spawn of our children all over the galaxy. We will be the superior race which will live in peace: no more wars, no more conflict – just the love amongst our own kind! What more could you ask for?_

Ripley stood still, as many chaotic feelings overwhelmed her.

The driving needs to protect her young.

The strength and companionship of her own kind.

The power of her own rage.

The warmth and safety of the steaming crèche.

Somehow all of those things didn't sound so repulsive. It would give her life a meaning again, instead of the emptiness she felt while trying to remain human – and true to Raksha's words: humanity had given her nothing but pain. Sickening pain of all that was so irretrievably lost. She was prepared to do anything to be free of that pain, to escape this hollowness – this emptiness - perhaps even to give up her humanity. Heck, she wasn't even fully human, so why couldn't she make that choice?

_-Think about it, Ripley,_ said Raksha's victorious voice.

Newt's voice, the voice she used to always listen to, silenced.

* * *

In real life, it only appeared that Call looked busy for a few minutes – but in android terms, from her point of view, Call's task was stretching out to feel like hours. _What kind of idea was it to program me with impatience? _The very idea of designing her with ethical and emotional parameters – it was as much of a curse as it was a gift. It felt like she spent an eternity going through everything there ever was about Wal-Mart on the net, pinpointing every business location they had, every office – but no information seemed to stand out somehow, none that would give her any hint to where they could have put all the leftover materials from the old Weyland-Yutani Company. There were no transfer-plans listed, no specific details on how the take-over had progressed. Heck, it almost seemed like every remnant of the Company had just been eradicated from the face of the Earth.

But there had to be some detail there, something right before her eyes that would give her the clue she needed – but that simple little detail seemed to evade her completely… until she caught sight on the little note back in the basic history of the corporation. It seemed to be such a small insignificant hint, but she looked through it anyway - and found something that cast a whole new light on the subject. She disconnected from the net and spoke out into thin air in excitement: "I've got it!"

Call left the terminal she had been sitting in front of in a rush and she sprinted through the ship to find the one who would be most interested in the information she had dug up. But she couldn't help to voice out her finding to the rest of her crewmates as she run past them.

"I've got it! I've _got_ it!" she told Johner as she met him in the corridor.

"Got what?" the scarred man asked perplexed. What's gotten into the robot now? "Is it contagious?"

"I've figured it out!" Call only passed back to him as she rushed by and continued her way. She met up with the Felger twins next.

"The answer was right there in front of us the whole time!" she gasped out as she put her hands on the shoulders on one of the twins. "It's _not_ Wal-Mart! I mean, it _is_ Wal-Mart, but not the Wal-Mart we thought!" The twins looked even more confused than Johner did. "I have to tell Ripley!"

Call soon found Ripley by the viewport where the woman usually spent her time, doing who knows what. The other was so focused on the window, so deep in thought that she didn't notice the android approaching – and Call, so immersed in her excitement, neglected to take the certain caution that she normally did when nearing the other.

"Ripley! Wait 'til you hear about…" But here is where she was cut off as a slender, but yet powerful arm shot out and grabbed Call by her throat. Had Call been human, her windpipe would have been instantly crushed.

"I've told you so many times: do _not_ disturb me back here!" the taller woman hissed.

"S-sorry," Call gasped hoarsely under the chokehold. "But this is r-really im...portant...!"

"What's so important that you feel the need to disturb me?" She still hadn't let go of the other.

Call could see now that the woman had gone through some sort of change. Her eyes were somewhat darker, and her brow had become more creased. It seemed like the failure with the last raid had made her fall deeper to her darker side. That was not good. Call hoped that her recent findings would help summon Ripley back before she sunk even deeper.

"The m-materials we're looking for… I know where to _find_ them!"

Ripley let go of the other's throat at that, but she showed no hint of remorse or even apologized for her behavior. Instead she went straight into her demanding mood. "Tell me!"

Call summoned every crewmember aboard the _Betty_ before she revealed her findings. They all gathered in the dining-area, even the slob Zack Ryan, although no one really admitted him as formal member of the ship.

"All right, Annalee, what is all this about?" Johner asked impatiently.

"We really _have_ been looking in the wrong places when doing our raids," Call told everybody present. "Wal-Mart doesn't have the materials we're looking for! They never did!"

In the back, Ryan muttered lowly: "And it took you that long to figure it out? Typical wenches!" If Call heard him, she didn't show it. She was used to Ryan's chauvinist behavior at this point. Instead she went on with her presentation. There was a monitor fastened to the bulkhead in the dining-area – on it she had uploaded images that would help explaining her points during her resumé. She called one up now that was showing an ordinary building.

"Wal-Mart Inc was founded by an American entrepreneur Sam Walton way back in the year 1962. It started out as a low-price retailer, but grew over the years to become a…"

"Skip the history lesson, Call!" Ripley cut her off. "Just get to the point that concerns us!"

"Right," Call said, feeling a bit miffed. "The point is, Wal-Mart had over the years become an international business corporation with offices in 28 different countries, operating under over 60 different names – including Japan!" Call called up another picture. "Enter: Seiyu GK! It's a Japanese group of supermarkets, shopping centers, and department stores. Its head office is in Akabane, Kita, Tokyo – but despite its Japanese foundations, it is all owned by Wal-Mart."

"And it's of significance to us how?" Keevan asked.

"Seiyu Group refers to an association of companies, of which The Seiyu, Ltd. is the parent. The companies in Seiyu Group are among others: Hokkaido Seiyu Co., Ltd., Tohoku Seiyu Co., Ltd., Wakana Co., Ltd., and plenty of others.

"My point is:" Call quickly said before another interrupted her. "...that there was a specific corporation founded to be a sister-company to Seiyu GK in 2078 as an answer to the quickly developing space-program as well as to the cybernetic development: the instigator's name was Hideo Yutani!"

Ripley's bored gaze finally flew up in interest.

Naavek was picking up the thread. "Yutani as in…?"

"Yutani Corporation," Call confirmed. "The Japanese office that joined forces with Weyland Industries in 2099!"

Keevan laughed. "So Wal-Mart have had an inconspicuous finger in the Weyland-Yutani Company business right from the start?"

"So that's why how come it was _them_ who bought the Company out when it went under!" Naavek continued.

"That's right," Call said. "Since half of the Company was already owned by the Seiyu Group, who in turn is owned by Wal-Mart, they got first dibs on claiming all there was to claim. But it got me thinking that Seiyu's own investments should somehow have been refunded in the process, so I did a little digging and concluded that the remains of the Weyland-Yutani Company probably were equally divided between America and Japan. It appears that Wal-Mart took all the finished research and patents that Weyland-Yutani had already made official – so… what happened to the _unfinished_ research that had _not_ been made official?"

Johner cocked an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting that the stuff we're looking for is in the hands of this sei-song corporation or whatever their name is?"

"Well, considering that all the best stuff is made in Japan, made by the brightest engineers the planet has to offer, who better to reverse-engineer all the hardware that no one outside of the Company knew what they were meant for? The same goes with any possible extraterrestrial stuff."

Johner turned his head towards Ripley. "You believe in this shit she's jabbering about?"

"She raises a point that's valid enough to warrant a closer investigation," Ripley replied. "We'll set course for Tokyo!"

"A waste of time!" Zack Ryan snapped. "The bitch's theory is so ludicrous that it stinks of horse dung! I can't believe that you're listening to this crap! Only a _dumb broad_ could come up with this!"

Ripley strode up to the slob, grabbed him by his throat and hurled him hard up against the wall. And then she snarled into his face: "For someone who doesn't contribute the least to this ship, you sure do spread a lot of garbage yourself! Unless you've got something constructive to add, something that doesn't involve your irritating dislike for women, then I suggest you keep your trap shut, or I'll put it permanently out of commission! Do you _understand?_ From now on, shut _the hell_ up!"

It looked like Ripley was about to make good of her promise prematurely, because she wouldn't let go. Ryan clawed at her, desperately trying to make her let go of her grip as it almost completely blocked his airway – but she only smiled wickedly, tightening her hold even more. Ryan's face became more blue-colored as he got no air. The woman's predatory lust for blood had taken over.

"Ripley, that's enough!" Call called out to her. She really didn't care about Ryan, but she did not want Ripley to become a murderer. That would send her over the edge. "That's enough!" Call urged again, taking hold of Ripley's wrist to make her let go.

Ripley did finally relent, but not very gently. Ryan slumped to the floor, gasping as he finally was able to inhale precious oxygen again. Meanwhile, Call had to suffer the consequences for her interference. The android was showed into the wall in turn and Ripley stood with her fist raised as if she was about to punch her face in. But she caught herself just in time and let go of the smaller woman. Her wrath didn't seem to want to diminish though. Fuming with rage, she proceeded to the bridge, leaving behind her crew to pick themselves up. Call let out a breath of relief while Ryan remained on the deck, panting.

"Fucking whore!" he croaked as he massaged his sore throat. "No woman treats me that way!"

"She just did," Naavek pointed out.

"And you're lucky," Keevan continued. "She could've just as easily have ripped your vocal cords out… through your rear end!"

* * *

Author's notes: the background on Wal-Mart and its connection to Japan is all true until to the point where I included the Yutani Corporation. I looked it up thoroughly on Wikipedia and added it to my story.


	8. The Seiyu Group

The trip to Tokyo went exactly the way the previous trips to the earlier destinations had done: they just flew low without giving regard to any other possible air-traffic, keeping radio-silence, and having no concern for any other kind of interference since the _Betty_ was too old to be carrying a slave-circuit – no one could implement the idea to override the ship.

Ripley sat by the sticks with Call acting co-pilot beside her – the android was busy listening to the radio-traffic. Their acting captain was so focused on the task at hand that she hardly responded to any possible distractions from around her – she had this gut-feeling that Call had hit a jackpot theory this time, and she was eager to see it through. At last she would get her hands on the materials – at last she would… do what exactly? It disturbed her, although she was careful not letting it show, that she was unable to make up plans for her life after she was done with her self-appointed mission. Eradicating the xenomorph species was her sole purpose… what was she going to do afterwards? A human without a goal, without a purpose… what kind of a life would she live if it had no meaning? To give in to Raksha's offer to abandon her humanity and instead becoming the queen of the aliens sounded more and more tempting if only it meant getting a purpose. Was she really going to destroy the materials once she got her hands on them… or would she keep them for herself?

Ripley then became aware of that Call was speaking to her.

"There's radio-chatter coming in on several frequencies reserved for air-traffic that concerns us. They demand identifications, flight-plans, and immediate deviation from our present course. No big surprise – it's what we always get when we do this."

"You know what to do, Call," Ripley said, unconcerned. Call nodded and began to jam all frequencies in their closest vicinity.

"Five minutes to target," Call then reported.

"Johner, you prepared with the gas-canisters?" Ripley asked over her shoulder.

"Sure," he said sniggering. He always took pleasure in the action they were about to have. "Just give the word, and I'll drop 'em on their heads."

"Ripley, we're receiving a signal on an isolated frequency…" Call then said.

"Ignore it!" Ripley half snapped. "It doesn't concern us!"

"But it does!" Call looked up with a start. "_You_ are being hailed!"

Ripley threw an incredulous glance at Call. "_I_ am?"

"By name!" the android confirmed. "And that's not all… it's from the headquarters of the Seiyu Group itself. They're telling us…" Call looked even more surprised now. "They're _asking_ us to approach without hostility. They will greet us without such as well. I… I've just received landing coordinates! They're _inviting_ us!"

"Are you shitting me?" Johner asked. "Why would they do that? It must be a trick!"

"I'm not sure it is," Call said. "All other frequencies that were trying to contact us has suddenly cleared. They've stopped transmitting… Seiyu Group has informed the controllers that they will take over this matter personally!"

"They want to take us on hand to hand?" Johner asked.

"Johner, the local authorities have been given a 'stand down'-order… they are not to scramble for our sake. They really want to talk – not fight!"

"Interesting…" Ripley mumbled.

"You're really not falling for it, are you?" Johner persisted.

"The Japanese are known to be an honorable people," Call said. "I believe that this is genuine. We should honor them in return by complying to their request. We should land without causing any trouble."

"You mean we just gonna barge in without shooting?"

"We won't have to barge in – we're invited!"

"Ripley!" Johner turned to the other woman. "You don't believe in this, do you?"

"No," Ripley replied impassively. "…but it would make a nice change. We'll play along…"

Johner looked angry while Call looked at her friend with a new sense of hope. Maybe Ripley hadn't fallen so deeply into an unreasonable state as she had first feared…

"…but make sure to bring along your special thermos anyway in case we are double-crossed." Ripley told Johner.

Johner's special thermos in which he held a secret gun. Call grew concerned again while Johner looked more satisfied.

* * *

As per agreement, the _Betty_ landed on Seiyu Group's premises without any incidents delivered from either side. The ship was watched though by armed men in case the truce was violated, but Call hoped that it wouldn't come to that. As the crew walked down the ramp, they were greeted by an Asian man in an expensive suit who addressed them in perfect English.

"I bid you welcome to the Seiyu Group's establishment, Miss Ripley and accomplices," he said with courtesy and with a bow. "Allow me to introduce myself: I am Hikaru Hoochi, junior vice president of this establishment. I am to escort you to our honored C.E.O., Mr. Tagachi. He is looking forward to see you."

Call brought her hands together in front of her chest and made a courteous bow herself. "We are honored by your hospitality, Hikaru-San, and we graciously thank you for your invitation."

Johner scoffed at Call's behavior. "Have you gone all suck up now, Annalee?"

"For god's sake, Johner, this is part of their custom," she growled at him. "By showing respect, we present a gesture of good faith that we do not seek an open conflict! They invited us without firing a shot, and I wish to leave in the same manner, don't you?" Johner snorted, but he didn't say anything else.

"I apologize profusely for my… colleague's temporary lapse of judgement, Hikaru-San," Call said to their host.

"I am pleased to find that your judge of character remains at optimal efficiency despite the fact that you have no reason to trust government officials after the unfortunate circumstances concerning your kind, Miss," Hikaru Hoochi said with a smile.

Call was taken aback. "Oh! You know that I am…"

"I am well aware of your 'heritage' as a Second-Gen artificial – I knew from the moment I laid my eyes on you… but you have nothing to fear. Here you are our honored guests despite your backgrounds. Shall we proceed to see Mr. Tagachi now?"

"We'd like that," Ripley said with a hint of impatience.

"But before we go…" Call said, turning around towards the ramp of the _Betty_. "Ryan will remain with the ship!"

The slob's face turned dark. "_What?!_"

"I won't have you stealing goods from these people!"

"_You don't tell me what to do, you bitch!_" Ryan roared. "_You don't give me orders!_"

Ripley turned to the junior vice president. "If even one of his toes leaves that ramp, your guards can shoot him down. I won't hold it against you." The Asian man smiled and relayed the instructions in his own native language to the men standing watch.

With several vituperative words slamming into their backs from the man they left behind in the _Betty_, the rest of the crew followed the vice president into the building. The foyer was spacious, large enough to accommodate a three-story mansion. It wasn't empty though – it served as an exhibition for some of Seiyu Group's products. The middle of the floor was dominated by a scaled-down space-craft – the twins caught quite an interest for the model.

"Fascinating. What is it?" one of the brothers asked.

"Ah, that's the pride of our space program," said Hikaru Hoochi. "It's our Asclepius-class vessel."

"Asclepius?" Call said with interest. "After the Greek god who represents the healing aspects of the medical arts?"

"The western tongue prefer the term: 'humanitarian vessel'. Constructed and fitted with all of the latest achievements medical science has to offer – made so that it can stand prepared to meet any medical emergency there is anywhere in the galaxy."

"What a wonderful innovation," Call praised.

"Ah, if only the other governments of the world were as enthusiastic as you," the Jr. vice president sighed. "Four is operational and a fifth stands ready to go into service – they are all named after Asclepius' five daughters, with one exception:

"The _Panacea _and the _Iaso_ are the only two that is being run under government service, while the _Hygieia_ is privately owned and being used as a personal yacht. The _Aceso_ is used under military jurisdiction, but I've heard they've refitted her with some weapons and has renamed her to the _Athena_… not so fitting as Athena was a warrior goddess. The _Aegle_ is still standing waiting to be purchased, but no one is willing to raise the funds to buy any more, despite the fact that the statistics clearly says that humankind would benefit to have in the very least twenty ships in service now that we are colonizing every corner of the galaxy. Who can predict when a disaster occurs somewhere next, hmm? They would be happy to have a humanitarian ship close by to aid on such an occasion, don't you think?"

"Some are more interested in the preservations of the installations on the colonies rather than of the personnel," Ripley muttered.

"You think?"

"I _know!_"

"Perhaps we should move on…" The Asian man led the group ahead through the foyer, past the reception desk and into an elevator. He used a special keycard in the slot for clearance to get to the top levels, and the crew found themselves stepping out on a luxury floor. The room they were in now was the visitor's lounge with expensive furniture and air conditioning. Johner was quite disinterested, and so was Ripley. But her eyes were drawn to the side towards the wall that was a gigantic aquarium filled with exotic fish that were typical for the Asian marine life. For a brief moment she was overwhelmed with sadness: her daughter Amanda had loved aquariums - she would have found this tank to be captivating. Then Ripley showed the memory aside – this was not the time to be nostalgic.

Hikaru Hoochi went to a pair of doors which he entered, leaving the crew outside. Riley became immediately on guard in case they indeed had been double-crossed. But the Jr. vice president came out again after only about twenty seconds and opened the doors all the way and gestured for Ripley and her company to step inside. "Mr. Tagachi will see you now."

Once inside the office, Hikaru Hoochi closed the doors again, with him on the outside. He would not be with them for the meeting. Behind a desk made of mahogany, there was a Japanese man around his sixties with gray hair who called them forward.

"Welcome," he too said with perfect English. "I am Tagachi. I have been expecting you for some time now. I must confess, I didn't think that it would take you this long."

The pirates stepped forward. "You knew we were coming?" Ripley asked bewildered.

"I knew that you would eventually come," the man said. "I was about to have some tea – care to join me?" Everybody declined. "Or perhaps some other beverage? A drink perhaps?"

Johner broke out into a smile. "I never say no to a drink!"

From a side-door, an attractive Japanese woman came in, carrying a tray with a porcelain cup and a pitcher. She put the cup in front of her boss and poured it up with steaming hot fluid.

"A drink for our guest Mr. Johner, would you please?" Tagachi then said to her. The woman went to the bar, picked up a little plastic cartridge which she tore the covering off and dropped a solid brown gel cube into a glass. She then put the glass under a device and activated a small laser beam which liquified the cube, filling the glass half-full of beverage. Putting the glass on the tray, she walked up to Johner and presented the drink for him. The pirate took the drink and gave the woman a hungry, ugly smile. "How would you like a little one-on-one later?" he asked her. The Japanese woman was too disciplined to react, but Call was disgusted.

"Don't even think it, Johner!" the small woman told her companion harshly.

"A man's got to have priorities," Johner said as if it was no big deal.

"Remember what happened the last time you said that?" Call asked him knowingly.

Johner turned sour. "You're saying Ripley will attack me again?"

"Not her…" Call said, glancing at the female aide. The Japanese woman gave a confirming smile, as did her boss. Tagachi's aide was well trained in many forms of fighting arts. Should the scarred pirate try anything, he would be in for a world of hurt. Scowling, Johner downed his drink in one gulp.

Ripley was through with this prolonged accommodation. She had only one thing on her mind: "You know who we are… then you know why we are here!"

"I do indeed," Tagachi confirmed, picking up his hot tea.

"Then this is the place?" Call now stepped forward as she did not want Ripley's impatience to lead to an involuntary insult. "You _do_ have the materials we are looking for?"

"I did," the C.E.O. said before he sipped his tea.

"Did?" Call asked incredulously at the man's use of the past term.

Tagachi put his cup down. "About a month ago we received orders from main HQ of Wal-Mart to haul out all solid artefacts left from the Weyland-Yutani Company that was concerning Xenomorph XX121 from our deep storage and have them prepared for transport. The US military have purchased all the materials. So I'm sorry to say that you have come too late."

The crew of the Betty were more surprised that the C.E.O. was so candid with this rather than the statement that they had missed their goal again.

"I won't deny that I was quite happy to be rid of it – the containments of those crates were giving me goosebumps. I was especially discouraged by that stasis-box… why they wanted to preserve that creature was beyond me…

"But I must confess that I had hoped that you would've gotten here first – I would've surrendered them to you. I don't like the idea of those… _things_ whatever they are being in the hands of the US military. I can't imagine what they want with them. I get a dreadful feeling in my gut where they are concerned – they should not be part of our world."

"Where are the military taking it?" Ripley demanded to know.

Tagachi made an apologizing shrug. "They wouldn't let me know. But I'm sure that such resourceful people such as yourselves should be able to hack into the military mainframe and find out. I'm surprised that you haven't done so already, since the purchase was made official and all."

Call looked embarrassed. Was there a clue in the media that she had totally failed to notice?!

"As I'm sure that you fully understand," Tagachi went on, "I can't give you any more help than with what I have already said. You do know that I shouldn't even be talking to you?"

"We are grateful that you decided to invite us in," Call explained. "But we admit that we are a bit confused by your decision to do so."

"I know what happened at the Wal-Mart locations you visited," Tagachi said as he sipped his tea. "It was all for the benefit of the people who work for me. I did not wish to see them in hospital as I care for them."

Call knew that this was their cue to leave. She brought together her hands before her chest and bowed. "We thank you for your hospitality, Tagachi-San. May the sun of the orient shine brightly upon you and your family. Sayonara." Afterwards she motioned to her colleagues to get out in an orderly manner – she was fully intent that they would leave as peacefully as they had come. Ripley made no objections – she had her answers. Now it was up to them to make good use of this new development.

* * *

"Somehow I didn't find this as satisfying as with the previous hits we made," Johner grumbled as he sat drinking his homemade moonshine. They were back in the _Betty_ heading back out into space, having left the Seiyu Group's grounds behind without firing a single shot, and without hurting somebody.

"Don't complain!" Keevan pointed out. "You might get more than what you bargained for next time!"

"Yeah," Naavek agreed. "This marks the end of the raids against Wal-Mart, no need to do that anymore – now it will be against the military!"

"Military grunts ain't so tough," Johner snorted. "We dealt with them before, on the _Auriga_!"

"But not everyone of you made it back out, then," Keevan said.

Johner put up a warning finger in front of the twins' faces. "Hey! That was the stinkin' bugs taking us out! No military sucker ever got the bead on us! When they tried to have us arrested, _we_ took them out, not the other way around! They're no worse than the suckers guarding Wal-Mart!"

"Still I can't shake this nagging feeling that the stakes have just gone up to a higher level;" Naavek said.

"You and me, both," his brother agreed.

Just then Ripley came out from the cockpit after having put the ship back into orbit. She looked around. "Where's Call?" she asked.

"I'm here," the smaller woman replied, coming in from the aft section. Zack Ryan was there too, even though he was hanging around to the side. He was still fuming for the humiliation earlier and for the missed opportunity to steal some valuables back in Tokyo.

"Did you find anything?" Ripley demanded.

"Yes," Call confirmed. "I managed to hack into some of the military mainframes, although it was hard to get through their firewalls. The stuff from Weyland is in the possession of a United Systems Military Special Research Department, led by a man called Jacob McHagen. He's the superior commander over the late General Perez! It was as a matter of fact _he _who sanctioned the operation on the _Auriga_ to breed the creatures!"

"What a small world!" Johner commented.

"Did you find where the materials are now?" Ripley was eager to know.

"No. The military transit data is too heavily encrypted with a too tough firewall to break through. I couldn't risk penetrating it without having a feed-back surge frying my own circuits. I don't know where they are right now in this very moment – but I did find out what purpose the materials are playing."

"And does that purpose help us to locate them?" Ripley was getting impatient again.

"Yes, but you're not going to like it! They're involved in an expedition that's heading out into deep space. We'll never get them now!"

"What expedition? Heading where?"

"I don't know what the purpose for the expedition is – those files were too heavily encrypted. But the materials in question are being shipped to the Zeta II Reticuli system, to the planet designated as LV-426."

Ripley was looking at Call as if she had just grown two heads. "_LV-426?!_ Are you _certain_ of this?!"

"I triple-checked it - it's confirmed," Call said with a hint of nervousness. "Ripley, I'm begging you: don't think about doing something crazy!"

"What?" Johner asked. "What's so special about that planet?"

Call rolled her eyes. "Haven't you been _listening?_ LV-426 is the planet where it all _started!_"

"Why would anybody go there?" Naavek asked. "What's the point? I thought you said that everything was wiped out after a nuclear explosion?"

"It doesn't make sense," Ripley agreed. "…unless something _survived!_" She searched her inner self as she said this. Her darker side, that which was the entity of Raksha, seemed to think in the same line as she. -_It seems worth checking out,_ something hissed in the back of her mind. -_Could it be that some of our children are still alive?_

"But if that's where this Jacob McHagen is taking the stuff, then _that's_ where we're going!"

Ripley's words caused a simultaneous uproar amongst her crew.

Call: "Ripley, that's _insane!_"

Johner: "Drop dead, I'm not going there!"

Ryan: "_Fuck you, Bitch!"_

Naavek: "We didn't sign up for that!"

Keevan: "Yeah, that's crazy!"

Ripley, after everybody had voiced their protests: "This is _not_ open for debate! We're in this to destroy the remains of the Xenomorphs – and if we have to go down to the deepest bowels of hell to get to them, then we'll do it!"

Ryan: "Speak for yourself, you wench, I'm not in it for your crazy quest – I'm in it for my share, and nothing else!"

Keevan: "You mean you're here to make sure that your bosses get the money we owe them."

Ryan: "Don't mark words to me, Butthead!"

Naavek: "Who are you calling 'Butthead', Dirtbag?"

Call: "Sit down! You're behaving like children!"

Ryan: "I told you: _don't_ give me orders…!"

"Do you remember what I told you before?" Ripley said to the slob with an icy voice. "_**Shut! Up!**_"

"Ripley, we'll never make it to LV-426!" Call said, resuming the original subject before the uproar. "The _Betty_ can't handle it! It's even older than _you_ are! Back in your days with your first encounter, it was to take the _Nostromo _ten_ months_ to travel from LV-426 back to Earth! Now, we're not hauling any heavy cargo like the _Nostromo_ did, but even if we did push our trimmed engines beyond their safety capacities, it will still take us _four_ months to travel! It's not near anything like the modern military spaceships that'll get there in just three weeks! We'll be arriving _way too late_ if we were to undertake the trip!"

"I don't care how long it takes!" Ripley said determinately. "We're going, and that's final!"

"And what about the radiation?" Call persisted.

"What radiation?" Johner asked.

"Planet LV-426 is highly radioactive after the nuclear explosion that occurred there," Call explained. "We're not _equipped_ for that!"

Ripley stood still for a moment, thinking it over. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it!" she said, turning her heel to set the course.

"I'm _not_ going to LV-426!" Ryan burst out.

"Then man the escape pod and _get out_!" Ripley called over her shoulder. "I'll be more than happy to be _rid_ of you!"

"I'm not going without my stuff!"

"But that's not really yours, is it?" Call said angrily as she bore her gaze into the slob, thinking how he had stolen some of the parts from Vriess. Ryan was for once smart enough to stay silent, but he didn't leave the ship. His greed for his stolen trinkets exceeded his wish to stay safe.


	9. The mystery voice

It had gone four months since the _Athena_ had first landed on LV-426, and about thirteen weeks since Ripley had visited the Seiyu Group and learned of the military operation being conducted on the planet once known as Acheron and had set her heading for the Zeta II Reticuli system. Jacob McHagen was not yet aware that the result of his science project from the _Auriga_ was on her way – he had bigger problems to deal with. Six weeks had gone by since the Aliens broke confinement, and despite the appearances he worked hard to maintain, Supreme Commander McHagen was hardly a man that had everything under control… but he was very determined to get it back!

McHagen had no intention of doing the same mistakes that his late underling General Perez had done, which had resulted in the total loss of the USM _Auriga_ – the xenomorphs were in total control of the research tower, having slaughtered every person that had been working over there. Strangely enough they had not yet made any attempt to take the command center complex. Maybe the creatures were vulnerable to the radiation outside and preferred to stay indoors, but there was no way for the people in the other complex to know if that was the case. All McHagen knew for the moment was that he had to retake the research center at all costs!

A group of soldiers, a company of six which consisted of four men and two women stood combat ready in full gear in the garage where the special bus was waiting to take them over to the other complex. With the radioactive environment outside, there was no other way to get to the other structure except for travelling in the lead-inforced transport. None of the soldiers looked very enthusiastic though: they were not the first group to undertake this mission they were about to embark on – the problem lay with that none of the previous combat groups going over to the other complex had returned.

"I'm sure that I don't have to remind you of your mission objective?" a major by the name of Metzger addressed the group, walking around in front of the men and women like he had no care in the world. The major was a typical military man: clean uniform, perfectly pressed pants and polished shoes. His moustache was trimmed on both sides of his hawk nose with millimeter profession, and his hair that was in the beginning stage of balding was combed down flat to his skull. He stood erect, his eyes radiating complete confidence. Of course it was easy for him to be confident: he wouldn't be going along with the rest of the soldiers. "Repeat for me!"

"We are to reclaim the tower," the squad leader Lieutenant Dennis said, having extreme trouble to keep his voice leveled. "The… experimental creatures are to be herded back into their pens. We are free to use whatever means necessary to do so, but… the Supreme Commander want them alive. No disintegration."

"Exactly!" the major confirmed. "Then I trust that you won't disappoint as the previous groups did? It was Admiral Henderson who put all of those teams together and he isn't taking lightly to resources being wasted."

"Sir, how are we to proceed?" the squad leader objected. "Two groups went out to do this before us and none has returned. How are we to know what they did wrong? What are we to expect over there?"

"Do I detect fear from you, Trooper?" the major challenged him.

"I… I just want to make sure that we don't walk right into a trap, Sir."

"Trap?" Major Metzger snorted. "They're just _animals_, trooper! How would they know how to set a trap? The two previous groups were incompetent, they allowed themselves to be overwhelmed! Rely on your intelligence and you should be just fine!"

"But we're not allowed to use deadly weapons!" the soldier objected, solemnly regarding his stunner rifle. "How are we supposed to drive them back into the pens?"

"The first group that went over there had canisters of liquid nitrogen with them," the major explained. "Find them and use those! It won't harm the subjects permanently, but it will give them a reminder on who is in charge!"

"What kind of a creature is impervious to liquid nitrogen?!" the soldier asked in disbelief.

Metzger decided that his limit of patience had reached its peak. "Enough with this stalling! You have your orders and both Admiral Henderson and I expect you to carry them out! Now get aboard that bus, unless you want to be court-martialed for disobedience!" The soldiers saluted the officer and they all climbed the bus with dejection evident on their faces. Especially the squad leader Lt. Dennis was concerned, as he was about to lead his team into unknown hostile territory with practically almost no weapons to defend themselves. He dug his hand into his pocket and brought up a piece of wine gum that he put into his mouth. A soldier wasn't really to eat sweets on duty, but he desperately needed something to chew on. It didn't make it any better for any of them that the driver of the bus was such a garrulous talker.

"You know, I never really minded before to drive people back and forth between the complexes," he said as he moved the big rig into the lock that was separating the habitat complex's clean air from LV-426's radioactive environment outside. "But now after the crisis that happened over there, it has really started to get on my nerves."

"Do you know anything more about it than we do?" one of the soldiers asked the driver.

"Not really…" he replied nonchalantly while he eyed the backward camera, watching the door closing behind the vehicle. "But I'll tell you one thing, it has really got everybody spooked." The soldiers rolled their eyes. That particular fact was really not any new knowledge to anybody.

The outer barrier of the lock rolled out of the way and cleared passage for the bus to drive out onto the rocky wasteland of LV-426. Although there was a 'road' suitable for travelling between the two structures, the ride was still quite bumpy. At least the wind was for once calm, but that was just a temporary respite. Soon the wind would build up in force again.

"Perhaps the conception of 'spooky' is more suitable for that thing," the driver continued with his chattiness as the vehicle approached the gigantic U-shaped alien spacecraft which looked so disturbingly organic in appearance on its surface. The driver swerved the wheel, following the path that had been drawn out for the bus that would lead them around the dead derelict. Although he had seen it so many times having passed by it on numerous occasions, it still gave him some jitters.

"Yeah," he grumbled, taking no consideration that the soldiers perhaps weren't interested in what he had to say. "That thing is what's spooky. That which is going around in the complex is more loony. D'you know what happened the last time I went over there? I dropped off the second team that was to pick up the work after the first team had failed to report back. No contact whatsoever… we suspected that they were all dead. So I drop off the team and was about to head back when this grunt rushes out from a concealed corner, looking raving mad. He banged on my doors, begging me to let him in."

"Did you?" one woman asked, feeling disturbed by the story.

"Nope," the driver said. "Had my orders: none was to be taken back from there until I am cleared to do so. 'No one is leaving until the job is done'; that's the instructions I'm obliged to follow. I just went back out, like I was supposed to. The guy wouldn't let go however – he rode the bus out, clinging to the outside. He was so gone out of his wits that he didn't care that I was driving out into a radioactive atmosphere."

"What happened to him?" another asked, feeling a cold drop of dread running down his spine beneath his armor.

"Dunno," the talkative driver said callously, even shrugging. "By the time I had driven back to the habitat complex he was gone. Can't tell if he lost his grip or if he just let go and ran off into the mountains. But wherever he is, he's completely cooked by the radiation by now. But I'll never forget the look in his eyes: he was way beyond reason. Wonder just what will do that to a man?" The soldiers expressed nervous glances between themselves. Whatever had happened to the soldier the driver had spoken of, there was a high probability that they were about to find out what had made him snap.

After a ride that to the soldiers felt like an eternity, but which in reality had only gone on for approximately eight minutes, the transport bus was driving inside a similar lock at the base of the research complex.

A large door rolled shut behind the bus, sealing it inside the space made to accommodate the vehicle. The decontamination process started. Highly pressurized streams of fluid sprayed the bus around every angle like it was within a carwash, rinsing the surface of the rig of any radioactive particles that may have gotten attached to it during the trip outside. It wasn't until after the process was done, and sensitive Geiger meter sensors told the computers that the bus was clean that the inner barrier of the lock slid aside, allowing the vehicle to roll into the garage of the complex.

The bus came to a halt on a circular platform imbedded in the floor which rotated the rig around 180 degrees. When the turning plate had stopped, the passengers began to disembark, although they did so with caution - they had no idea what to expect. The last soldier barely had time to step off before the bus began rolling off the platform again. "What are you doing?" someone asked. "Aren't you staying for our ride back? What if we hit an emergency?"

"Did you listen to nothing I said?" the driver huffed. "No one goes back until your task is finished! I'll be back when we get the signal that your job is done. Until then you're on your own! So long, fellas." And with that the driver closed all hatches of the bus and rolled back out through the lock where they had come in, with the main door closing behind it. The soldiers were left without any sense of comfort at all. Everything was quiet in the garage – the only sound that was heard was a kind of scraping noise, but no one could determine what the source of the sound was.

They all jumped as the squad leader's radio suddenly chirped, and the man hit the answer button. "Yes, Sir?" he said into his mike that was sticking out from the side of his helmet.

"- What's your status?" the gruffy voice of Admiral Henderson said in his ear. _Status? We only just got here!_

"We've just arrived at the tower, Sir!" he replied.

"- Report back when the subjects are back in their pens," the admiral's voice said sharply and signed off. No 'good luck's' or anything.

_All right_, Lt. Dennis thought to himself. _We had better get our heads in the game if we are to get out of this._ He repositioned his stunner rifle so that it was pointing ahead of him and then he addressed his team. "Our first priority is to locate those canisters of liquid nitrogen. We stick together, moving with two meters spread to cover every angle. I'll take point while Baker is covering our rear. We'll search room by room until we find those canisters and after that we'll work up a plan on how to drive those subjects back into their holds. Let's move out." He put another wine gum into his mouth and then took the lead.

The group moved cautiously in formation through the darkened corridors which they illuminated with flashlights. They detected no movements or anything unusual, except that they saw that some of the walls were full of bullet holes and smeared with dried blood. The stillness was getting on their nerves, as much as that weird crackling noise did.

"What's making that sound?" the woman behind the squad leader asked.

"I have no idea," Dennis said.

"What happened to everybody?" another of the team said in confusion. "There's clear evidence of a firefight, but there are no bodies. None from the previous teams or any of the personnel that were stationed here. Where did they all go?"

"Well, there's been no radio contact at all since the crisis began," someone else said. "There was already a high probability that there were no survivors."

"That doesn't explain the absence of their bodies!"

"Everybody cut the chatter!" Lt. Dennis said with a bit of force in his voice. "Let's maintain noise discipline here! I'm as curious to solve the mystery as much as you, but let's not speculate until we got something to build some theories on! We assess the situation as we get along. From now on, just keep quiet so that we don't miss something important!"

They moved on in silence. They were so focused on their surroundings that they all jumped when the radio chirped again.

"Jesus!" someone sputtered angrily.

"Yes, Sir?" the leader answered into his radio.

"- What's your status?" Admiral Henderson's gruffy voice demanded.

The squad leader had to force down his irritation. "We're attempting to locate those canisters of liquid nitrogen!"

"- Report back when the subjects are back in their pens," the admiral said sharply and signed off.

"Maybe he'd like to come over here himself and get the job done!" someone muttered. The team leader could only shake his head and keep going.

They had moved into the second module of the four that surrounded the research tower when they finally found what they were looking for. Laying against a corner, they found several flasks with strappings on them to be able a person to carry them on their backs. It looked like they had just been disposed and left behind, but the soldiers were relieved to have found them. The team almost rushed up to the discarded equipment to check up on the conditions on them. The excitement turned into a dismay as they discovered that all of the canisters had been raptured – they were all empty.

"What do we do now?" one of the soldiers asked.

"I'm open to suggestions," Dennis said.

"I say we head out to the main operations center of the tower and attempt to restore functions," the first woman of the team said. "From there we may be able to track any possible movements through the cameras and maybe drive the subjects into a single space by sealing the doors by remote, and trap them."

"I like this plan. Anybody else in favor?"

"Aye!" said three additional voices. That left one vote out.

"Got any objections, Baker?" the squad leader asked, looking around for the sixth member of the team. "Where's Baker?" There was no sign of the woman that had been assigned to cover their rear.

"Baker, come in!" Dennis spoke into his radio. "Report your position!" There was no reply.

"Let's head back and see where she ended up," the leader said, leading his team back out onto the corridor.

They found no trace of their missing team-mate whatsoever… it was like she had just disappeared into thin air. Meanwhile that scraping unknown sound continued to get on their nerves. _Sqrrrk. Sqrrk._ The team leader couldn't place it, but he did think that it somehow sounded almost electronic. He put another piece of sweet in his mouth.

"Over there," someone then said, almost in a whisper. Shining their flashlights, they saw a rifle laying on the floor. Since it hadn't been there when they'd walked the corridor before, they could only conclude that it belonged to Baker. Dennis walked up, examining the discarded stunner weapon. It looked undamaged, and there was nothing out of the ordinary laying around it. Cautiously he walked to it and picked it up. He almost recoiled. The weapon was lying in a puddle of a viscous gelatinous stuff which left trails of slimy filaments as he lifted it. It stuck to the surface like glue.

"What the hell is this?" he asked in disgust. No one had the time to offer an answer. From the shadows of a darkened corner a pair of powerful arms shot out and grabbed the soldier which stood to the farthest end of the group. He screamed as he was lifted in the air, alerting the other four of the danger. They all spun and directed their flashlights, which partially illuminated an unnaturally shaped creature that was carrying their team-mate away. More in panic rather than thinking of saving their comrade, the remaining soldiers opened fire with their stunners. They couldn't tell if it had any effect, because the shape disappeared quickly with its price. The last four soldiers found themselves standing alone in the corridor again.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…" someone quivered.

"What was that?! What _was_ that?"" the remaining female soldier asked.

Lt. Dennis had no answer to give – he only knew that he didn't like the idea of facing it, whatever that thing was. He strained to listen to where it had disappeared to with the trooper. He only heard that now irritating crackling noise, and something that was dripping to the floor behind him, as if a water tap was open. He turned slowly around with his light towards the sound, another member of his team was doing the same. The lights came upon a featureless face that was devoid of eyes and nose, but with a terrible row of silvery teeth in a mouth that was drooling an abnormal amount of mucus to the floor. They all screamed and opened fire once more.

Lt. Dennis was sure that some of the charges of the stunner rifles was hitting this monster, but it didn't seem to have any apparent effect on it, except for making it enraged. The creature lashed out, and suddenly one of the soldiers was impaled by a black blade of some kind, his chest erupting in blood as it punched through. The rest of the soldiers backed away in horror, and they could see now in the expanded field from their flashlights that the black blade was attached to a powerful scorpion tail that was protruding from the back of the creature.

None of the members of the decimated combat group could take it anymore. It was clear that their stunners had no effect on these creatures, and their nightmarish appearance alone was enough to summon horror to even the bravest of men. They fled, wanting to get as far away from the behemoth as possible. The last male member of the team, aside from Dennis, seemed to have gone completely off his marbles. He screamed hysterically, running off way ahead of the other two. Dennis wondered if this is what had happened to the other guy, the one that the garrulous driver had told them about. _Gone out of his wits. Raving mad._ If those creatures were the cause of that madness, then he could perfectly understand that somebody had gone completely crazy.

Lt. Dennis knew that their best chance for survival was to stick together. He grabbed hold on the wrist of the last female and set his legs to work. They had to catch up to the third and put some distance between themselves and those monsters. They ran as fast as they could, moving deeper into unknown grounds. They had no idea of the layouts of the complex. Since only special handpicked personnel were supposed to be stationed here, none felt the need to show the soldiers back at the habitat complex any prints on how the tower was built. The further into the complex Lt. Dennis ran, the lonelier he felt. He caught no glimpse whatsoever of the soldier that had ran off before them, it was like he had been swallowed by the shadows. Most probably he simply had turned into another direction. Dennis decided that he would dare to make a stop. He was to try to reach the remaining team member on the radio and urge him to find his way back and rejoin them. But as he turned around to explain this to the woman, he found that she was nowhere around. Somewhere Dennis had lost her as well. He was totally alone!

In a hushed voice, he spoke into his radio, trying to summon any of his team, but he received no reply. He looked around, listened, but he could neither see nor hear anything. Then his radio chirped. Relieved, he answered the call.

"- What's your status?" Admiral Henderson's voice came through the earpiece.

So much for the relief of thinking that it had been one of his team-mates. But he gave his report anyway.

"Mayday!" he spoke into the mouthpiece. "My team is gone! We were completely overwhelmed! The liquid nitrogen canisters are disabled! I need immediate backup… or evac!"

"- Negative on backup and evac," the gruffy voice replied. "- Continue the mission! Report back when the subjects are back in their pens!" The radio went dead. Dennis was staring at the mouthpiece in disbelief. Didn't the admiral hear anything of what he said? Didn't he _understand?_

He strained his ears again, listening for any sounds.

_Sqrrk. Sqrrk._

That blasted scraping! What was it anyway?

_Sqrrhhhk. …Sol…er… sqrrk._

Dennis focused his attention to the sounds. It almost sounded like some kind of a voice in the middle of the garble.

_Sold… sqrrcch… do… sqrrk… read me?_

Dennis suddenly realized what that scraping noise was. It was coming from the PA-system! He looked around, found a communications terminal, and pressed the 'send'-button.

"Hello? Is somebody there?" Now that he had connected a two-way radio link, the sound came through a little clearer.

"_Finally got thr… Sqrrhhk… to you! Systems in… Sqrrkk… plete jumble!"_

"Who are you?" Dennis asked. He couldn't identify the voice. It was too distorted and garbled. "Where are you?"

"_No ti… Sqrrcchhh… explain. You need to…. Sqrrk… out of there. You… Sqrrcchhh… danger!"_

"Tell me about it! What were those things? They took my team!"

"_There's noth… Sqrrcchhh… you can do… Sqrrk… them. The critters will get… sqrrk… you too! You must… Sqrrk… low my instruct… Sqrrchh… you want to survive!"_

"What can I do?" Dennis asked nervously.

"_Find corridor B on… Sqrrk… far side from… Sqrrcchhh… arage. Foll… Sqrrk… it 'til you get to… Sqrrk… third door on your left. I will me… Sqrrcck… you there. It leads to… sqrrcchhhh… safehouse."_

"A safehouse? In here? How can that be? How many of you are there? Are there any more survivors?"

"_Don't waste… Sqrrk… talking! The critters… Sqrrk… on to you! You must hurry!"_

"I'm going!" Dennis said and broke the connection. He ran, but kept a watchful eye out for either the two remining members of his team which he began to fear were lost, and for those horrible creatures responsible for their abductions. Finding the 'B'-corridor was thankfully an easy task. Looking around to make sure that he wasn't followed, he ducked down into the passageway and rushed along it. There seemed to be quite a distance between the doors to his left side. He was instructed to look for the third one, but so far, he had only seen two. He was beginning to fear that it was all a hoax. How could he even trust that mysterious voice? He had no idea who it was or if he had any good intentions. The only reason he followed this route was because he had no other alternatives. But thankfully he soon found a sealed door that clearly was the third on the left in numerical order. The problem was that it was sealed and locked. It wouldn't open on command. He hit the communications panel on the side of the door.

"Hey, Mr. mystery guy? I'm here now, but the door won't open!"

To his relief, a reply came, although it was still as garbled as it came through. "_I'm… Sqrrk… my way! The controls… Sqrrcchhh… disconnected from your side. I have… Sqrrrk… come open it for you. Just make sure… Sqrrrkk… you're alone. Are you?"_

Just as Dennis turned around to check his surroundings, his own radio chirped. Automatically he hit the answer button.

"- What's your status?" Admiral Henderson's voice came through.

"_Soldier! Are… Sqrrrchhh… alone?"_

"- Report! What's your status?"

The status was the worst one imaginable. Dennis wasn't alone. Behind him another one of those creatures had shown up from nowhere and was now towering over him. Dennis went petrified. The monster was horrible, worse than any nightmare imaginable could procure. He could tell that it glared at him, although there were no eyes visible that was directed at him. He didn't try to use his stunner – he knew it was worthless. He even lost his grip of it and if fell to the floor with a heavy clang.

"N-nice doggy!" he whined. "Cute little pooch!" He put a trembling hand in his pocket and brought out the wine gums he had there. "I-I got a treat for you…" he held out his hand, offering the sweets that lay in his palm.

"_Sqrrrk… oldier?"_

"- Soldier?"

The beast opened its massive jaw, revealing its second set of teeth inside. The last thing that was heard from Lieutenant Dennis was a bloodchilling scream.

"_Sqrrk… od dammit!"_ the garbled voice of the mystery man groaned over the PA-speakers before it shut off.


	10. The frozen girl

"They're all dead?" It was more to have a clarification of the statement rather than it being a question.

"Yes, Sir," Major Metzger said in a humbled tone. Admiral Henderson had gone coward and had delegated to the major to deliver the bad news rather than doing it himself. "Without a doubt."

Jacob McHagen was tapping his fingers impatiently on the surface of his glossy black desk. "I am not happy, gentlemen!" the supreme commander looked over at the people whom currently were standing in his glass office on the top floor, all of them shivering slightly. "Well? Ask me why I'm not happy!"

"W-why are you not happy, Sir?" a technician mumbled.

"Why am I not happy, you ask?" McHagen bore his gaze into all of the people present. "Because I feel like I have been _cheated!_ The people I have around me is said to be the best of the best and the brightest the military have to offer, and yet no one seems to be able to carry out the _simplest_ of instructions! 'Drive the subjects back into their pens', I said – why is that so hard to do?! Aren't the soldiers I've got at my disposal the best of the best?!"

"T-they are, Sir…" Metzger said. "But those creatures… they're unlike any species we've ever come across." The major was well initiated with what the xenomorphs were. He was actually the top commanding officer that had been stationed over at the research complex, so he had seen them with his own eyes. As luck would have it for his sake, he had been over at the command complex for a meeting with the brass at the time when the aliens had broken loose, so he had escaped the slaughter. But now it was on his shoulders to get the situation back under control. "They're ferocious and unpredictable. I don't know if we can…"

"I don't want excuses," McHagen cut him off. "I want _results!_"

"But we can't get results with what we have at our disposal," Metzger objected. "We're not dealing with a rat infestation here. We need something else – something that those creatures have no way to countermand!"

"Something that may be on that disc, for example?" Now McHagen fixed his eyes on his computer experts. "Have you got into those files yet?" He already knew the answer, but he wanted their incompetence to speak for themselves. The technicians swallowed.

"The… algorithms written on that disc are more sophisticated than anything I have ever come across," the chief computer tech said. "I have no idea where the writer of that disc found the basics inspiring him to write it that way. It's like we're dealing with an alien tech. It's totally unknown to us…"

"More excuses," McHagen snarled. "This will not do! We can't let this project go to waste! I want everything back under control and I want it _now!_ Major, you will tell Admiral Henderson to start pick another group to go over there and round up the subjects!"

"Another?" Colonel Hayes who stood to the side gasped in disbelief. "Commander, we'll be wasting our troops for _nothing!_ They won't have any better chance of success than the previous groups did if we go on like this!"

"Then give me an alternative that will give us a better advantage to _solve_ this situation!" McHagen barked.

Colonel Hayes turned to the technicians. "There must be some way you can get into those files on that disc! _Any_ way!"

"Well, there is one…" the tech mumbled. This caused all eyes to turn sharply towards the computer staff.

"There _is?_" McHagen growled with incredulity of what he was hearing. "Then why haven't you _done_ so already?!"

"Because you forbade it, Sir."

"_What?!_ What the _hell_ are you talking about? Speak out, man!"

"I'm saying that we can always ask Rebecca Jorden herself to open the files for us, Sir. The disc states that it belongs to her, after all."

Major Metzger rolled his eyes. "Are you nuts? Are we to ask for the access codes of woman who has been _dead_ for 200 years?!"

"She's not dead," the tech said. "We got her here!"

McHagen had lost his patience. He slammed his hand on the desk. "Stop speaking in riddles! Speak out exactly what you are talking about! How could that woman be here?!"

"I… I thought you knew, Sir," the tech stammered. "The disc states that it belongs to a Rebecca Jorden, last survivor of Hadley's Hope. We did a background check on all residents of the colony in the old records and we got a match. It's not a woman - it's a _kid!_ It's the little girl that was found frozen in the EEV… _that's_ Rebecca Jorden! We didn't follow it up though, because you gave specific orders that she was not to be revived, Sir! But if anyone knows the access codes, it would be her, just as the disc says."

McHagen looked a bit shocked by this revelation. Being such a hardcore military man, it was unthinkable from his perspective that a mere child could hold the key to such delicate information, that's why he himself never thought of that possibility and the now obvious connection. He leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.

"What are we to do about this now, Sir?" Metzger asked.

"Well," McHagen said calmly, putting his fingertips against each other. "It appears that Rebecca Jorden is in for a long overdue wakeup call, after all."

* * *

Adrienne Kinloch was pacing around in her quarters, or to be more precise: in her cell. Although it had the accommodations of comfortable furniture like bed, table with chair, her own bathroom and even an own kitchenette, it was a false façade – no matter how golden it was, it was still a prison. Ever since she had quit, refusing to be part of McHagen's immoral schemes, she had been confined to quarters under house arrest. As if waiting onboard the _Athena_ during those weeks while they were expecting the expedition to arrive hadn't been bad enough, this was much worse. On the _Athena_ she could walk around as she pleased, and she had her projects to spend her time with. Now she had nothing. No freedom to walk around and no projects… those had all been suspended and recalled when she left the service. From all those weeks that had gone by without having anything to do, she was suffering from an extreme case of cabin fever. She was bored, irate, and well ready to smash up the quarters in order to relieve her tensions.

The door suddenly opened and the judas of an intern, Andersson came in. He had no idea how dangerous that was right now with Adrienne's current state of mind. Not only was she so unsteady from her boredom, but she was so angry with him for his betrayal that she had to use all of her self-control to not jump him and beat him up.

"What do you want?" she growled, using a tone that was to warn him that she was not in the mood for any games.

"Scrub yourself and get ready, Doc," the young green shirt said, failing to take notice of his former mentor's subliminal warning. "You've been temporarily recalled to duty to perform a possible surgery."

She huffed in reply. "_Possible_ surgery? What's that supposed to mean?" She wasn't really interested in helping any wounded soldier either. Right now they were all her enemies. "Who's wounded?"

"You're getting your wish granted, Doc," Andersson said. "They're about to revive the girl, and you are to supervise it."

That made Adrienne look up in surprise. "What?! Why?!"

"McHagen thinks that she knows how to access that disc we found."

_We found?_ she was close to say. It was _she_ who had found it – Andersson had been just a bystander. But knowing what she knew now, she wished that she never had.

"Can you believe it?" Andersson rambled on. "It's the _girl_ that is Rebecca Jorden! And here we thought that it had been a scientist of some sorts."

Again the misuse of the word '_we_' – Adrienne had suspected from the start of the girl's identity - she had simply not shared her thoughts with him or anybody else.

"And why does McHagen want _me_ to supervise her resuscitation?" she asked instead.

"Well…" Andersson irritatingly hesitated. "All the master biotechnicians were at the research tower when the crisis broke out. They're all slain. You're the closest thing we have to an expert right now who should look her over since they don't know what the girl's condition might be after so long being frozen." He saw that the woman looked doubtful. "What's the matter? I thought you _wanted _to revive her?"

"I did before," Adrienne admitted. "…until I found out what was the actual purpose of this expedition. We have no right to bring the girl into this. She's better off where she is."

"Well, the decision's been made," Andersson pointed out. He sounded somewhat arrogant. "They're bringing her out whether you like it or not. So you are to get scrubbed and be prepared to admit her. I am to come back and fetch you in fifteen minutes." He left without so much as a 'see you later'. Ever since he had been released from her care after she'd resigned, it seemed like he was going to pay back for the times she had been a little harsh with him – that was why he had grown a little more disrespectful now. Letting out a sigh, she began to undress to get into the shower. The only good thing with this was that it will be a nice break from her monotonous predicament. It was sad though that the innocent little girl was going to have to pay the price for it.

* * *

They had to use a laser cutter to get through the lid. After having removed the pod from the wreckage of the EEV all those weeks ago, the technicians deduced that since the cryo-tube had long since gone out of power and because of the module being a two century-old antique, it would be a waste of time and resources to even attempt to try to power it up again - it was unthinkable that it would respond to any commands. So they'd simply put the entire contraption in cold storage, keeping the temperature way below zero to maintain a stable status of the frozen body within. But now as they needed the occupant awake, they had to use other methods to revive her since they couldn't use the original pod to do so.

With the cover removed, they had free access to the child. It was a risky moment though, as the technicians expected her to be frozen down to her very core. They gently lifted the mass of icy stiff flesh out of the pod, carefully so that they wouldn't accidently break any brittle limb. With a joined effort, they liberated the child from the pod carrying her with equally applied pressure underneath the body and placed her on a gurney. Then they brought their 'load' over to the other end of the complex where the _Athena_ was docked. They had to work fast. By removing the girl from her icy sarcophagus, her hibernation had been compromised. She was already deteriorating.

The thawing process was to commence in the _Athena's_ decontamination room, where Adrienne Kinloch was already waiting. Aside from the hot showers that was meant to wash off hazardous particles from a man's hide, there was also a tank in the middle of the room that made one think of it as a bathtub, filled with an oily amber liquid. What the true purpose of the liquid was when it came to decontamination was knowledge only to the medical staff – all that the assistant medical technicians needed to know was that the tank would in this case suit their task perfectly. There was a rack suspended above the lip of the tank, and it was on that they placed the body of the frozen girl.

"Board's all green," one of the support techs said. "We're good to go."

"Right," Adrienne replied. "Lower her down." The rack carrying the girl sank down into the cold oily liquid, submerging her completely. It had to be cold now in the start. Putting ice together with a boiling hot substance would end up in dire results. "Activate the elements. Let's heat her up." Slowly and gradually the temperature in the tank began to rise.

"Decrystallization of the membranes is at thirty-two percent and rising." a tech reported after a while.

"Keep an eye on the glycerol levels and cerebral perfusion saturation," Adrienne instructed.

"Thaw rate is accelerating."

"Prepare to introduce the metabolic inhibitors into the cytoplasm."

"Decrystallization at forty-nine percent and rising."

"Watch it!" someone else said. "The basal core temperature is too low! It may cause a separation of her lipids!"

The doctor was not losing her wits. "Stabilize the potassium saturation so that the hypocampal dendrites don't fire too early. That should help keep lipid cohesion steady."

"Fifty-seven percent decrystallization."

"Are there any brainwave signals yet?" Adrienne asked.

"Synaptic activity is of yet hardly noticeable, but they're coming."

"Be prepared to stimulate the alveolar sacs in her lungs to start diffusion at seventy percent. This is the tricky part. We shouldn't bring her up until she's up at least eighty percent temperature. Doing so too early may cause a massive organ failure should some of those still be frozen, but if her neural activity goes self-dependent before that, her brainstem might go into an overload."

"Sixty-eight percent… sixty-nine… seventy percent!"

"Start diffusion!"

The amber liquid was now so warm that steam was starting to rise from the tank.

"Seventy-two percent… seventy-three…"

An alarm suddenly blared.

"Synaptic activity just shot to maximum!" a tech reported.

Adrienne was confused. "That's too early! What the hell happened?"

"Her lungs are attempting to pump air into her bloodstream," a tech reported. "But there's no oxygen! She's panicking because she's submerged!"

"She shouldn't be aware of that yet!"

"Seventy-five percent!"

"She shouldn't, unless there's a trauma in her memory cores from an earlier drowning experience! She subconsciously fights to get out!"

Now Adrienne was getting sweaty. "We can't bring her up yet! It's not safe!"

"Seventy-six percent!"

"We have to make a choice! The same liquid that's reviving her is drowning her! Either we bring her up and take our chances with her organs, or she will suffer a mental collapse from drowning before we reach eighty!"

"Seventy-seven!"

"Do it!" Adrienne urged, making her decision. "Bring her up!"

The rack came back up above the surface of the liquid. The figure on it was no longer frozen, but totally drenched. The girl was not conscious, but her body-systems were at work. She was coughing, emptying her lungs, and expelling the liquid that had flowed down her throat through her mouth, making it run down on her chin in streams and dripple back into the tank below her. Finally she calmed down as she was able to breath air again, her head falling to its side and her synaptic levels dropping down to normal rates.

* * *

_She didn't want to wake up. It was a cruel world out there – a world that she no longer wanted to be a part of. It was easier to sleep, especially when you slept so deeply that you didn't even dream. But now the dreams had returned, which meant that she had somehow been recalled to the land of living. She wanted to protest, saying that she didn't want to – but it appeared that no one was listening. The dream that had plagued her now was one of her worst nightmares, although it wasn't __**the**__ worst. She had been immersed in fluid and was choking on the liquid, something she had been terribly afraid of since an earlier incident from a crash-landing had caused her to die of drowning._

_That dream had passed thankfully, although she didn't like the one that had replaced it – that which __**was**__ her worst nightmare. She dreamt of __**them!**__ The monsters… the horror… their silvery teeth grinning at her and wanting to rip her apart, invade her body and chew her up from the inside. Somehow she could feel it… somehow she sensed that something was digging around in her body. It frightened her as she wasn't fully awake, couldn't comprehend what was happening! She was almost panicking… she didn't want to feel this way. She was looking for comfort. Looking for anything that had given her safety in the past. She tried remembering her family…her mother… her father…_

_NO!_

_She quickly showed that memory away. That was __**stupid!**__ You can't remember the face of your father, because it's __**gone!**__ Forever concealed by that hand-like monster that was wrapped around his head. That image was part of her worst nightmares, the very core of her fear._

_She didn't even try to recall other faces of past family and friends… what was the point? They were all dead… taken away from her… leaving her all alone…_

_She regretted even more of having tried to summon the face of her father… it was like she could feel the creature herself, feeling something down her throat, and something wrapped around her head. And the disturbing feeling that something was digging around within her body! It made her afraid. She didn't want to feel this way. Why couldn't they just leave her alone?_

_Put me back, she wanted to cry and scream. Put me back into the ice! She'd preferred to be there than anywhere else. __**Put me back!**_

* * *

Adrienne couldn't understand it. She had to increase the dosage of anesthetic again. But she couldn't risk putting much more into the girl's systems – it could become too dangerous for the child. It was unbelievable… the girl was actually fighting it!

It had been as they had feared while thawing her up: the girl had been brought up too early from the tank. That meant that some of the pathways in her organs could still risk being clogged by some crystallized bodily fluids – and they couldn't resume an interrupted process as the body temperature was already becoming too unbalanced between the parts that was clear and those that might still be frozen. The two differences were trying to take each other out, spreading an uneven temperature through the rest of her organs. Adrienne had no choice but to go in and do an internal check of everything and fix the problems that were still present. The girl was now lying on the operations table, covered by a green hospital shroud. There was an internal breathing tube down her throat, and her honey-blond hair was tucked inside a plastic bag which framed her face. Adrienne supposed it was somewhat uncomfortable for the child, as the doctor couldn't get her to relax despite the anesthetics.

Adrienne had become shocked right before she started the surgery, after having removed her soaking wet garment. There had been bandages wrapped around the girl's chest, and underneath it was an extremely ugly scar of a badly healed wound. Worse even, after she had used the scalpel, she came upon the discovery of a cut ribcage that wasn't aligned. The edges of the split bone were uneven which meant it hadn't been a clean cut. Somebody had opened the girl's chest with a rough bone saw, without being cautious in the process. Who could have done this terrible thing to this poor child? The pain she must've experienced afterwards had to have been unbearable - a real torture!

An assistant came with a print-out of her blood-tests. The results gave Adrienne even more shivers. Traces of huge amounts of several antibiotics, many of them used to fight off infections and putrefactions. Looking more closely at the scar-tissue, Adrienne did not doubt that the child had suffered a beginning of gangrene, but she could tell that it had been halted. And on top of that, she had a borderline malnutrition. It was a miracle that this child was alive at all with all she had been through.

_Don't worry, little munchkin,_ she thought silently to herself. _I'm going to fix you. I'll patch you up all the way I can, the way you're supposed to be and relieve you of the pain. _The girl was two hundred years out of her time – medical science had progressed extraordinarily since that era.

Another assistant came forward, holding up a tray with a pale-yellow goo-like substance before Adrienne. "The special paste you wanted from the medical storage," the female assistant said.

"Thank you," Adrienne said. It was perfect timing. She was finished with the organs and thankfully there hadn't been any still frozen parts as they had feared. The girl was quite scrawny, so the warmth of the reviving liquid had reached into her center before the calculated expected time. It had also helped a lot that her blood had been prepared with a crystallization-prevention substance before she had been frozen stiff – her life-fluids were flowing like they should through her veins. Now she could tend to the other wounds. Using a tool which looked like a spatula, she scooped up some of the thick goo and began to apply it within her patient. The assistant, who was not an original crewmember of the _Athena_ and not up to date with the advanced medical substances asked what it was.

"Standard calcium-based bone cement," Adrienne explained. "Just what a growing girl needs. Not only will this bridge the gap and fixate her ribcage, but it will serve as a base-compound and be absorbed into her bones as they knit themselves together, allowing the calcium to strengthen her structure."

When her handiwork with the paste was done, Adrienne was to deal the skin. Usually a surgeon would only staple the cut together and let the tissue heal by itself – but the girl's flesh on her chest was ruined from repeated infections and scarring. It would forever be an extremely ugly reminder of her childhood ordeal if it was left as it was now. Adrienne was about to break some regulations, but she didn't care. She felt that she wanted to do everything she could do for the child.

The device she produced now was a very expensive piece of advanced medical hardware, so coveted by thieves and scruple-less businesspeople that each clinic being in possession of one of those devices had to keep it absolutely secret so that it wouldn't be stolen. The device Adrienne was about to use was a dermal regenerator. By using a tissue sample of the original skin as a base, the regenerator could weave new skin from the edges of a wound and give the patient a flawless new hide. Adrienne first made sure that the girl still was deeply sedated, then she began to cut away the ruined skin and replace it with a new one from the regenerator. The regulations she broke was that the device's intended purpose was to be mainly used for treating burn victims, and not for simple cosmetic improvements.

Cosmetic improvements were why many vane people wanted to have a dermal regeneration unit for themselves, so that they could rejuvenate their skin and look younger. But as each unit cost millions of credits to produce since it was a time-consumable and delicate process to put together with parts that were difficult to come by, they were reserved solely for medical purposes. And those who actually could raise the funds to buy one of their own privately, they were in for a three-year wait, sometimes longer. There were very few who wanted to make the time.

And then there were the fools who strongly believed that the regenerator could give them back lost body parts no matter how much you told them otherwise - but that's where the functionality of the device drew the line. It was limited only to basic skin-work – it could not give back cut-off fingertips, earlobes, or other lost parts of your body. Fortunately lost body parts wasn't the case with the girl. She had been cut from the collar bone down to her belly button, and the skin Adrienne was applying was going to make her look like brand new. The only problem the girl would have for a while was that she was going to feel numb in the chest area until her body had drawn new nerve fibers through the new skin.

* * *

The surgery was done with and the child was now recuperating in the recovery lounge. Not that she was aware of it - she was still too deeply under by the sedation. What the girl needed now was rest and the chance for her metabolism to stabilize after such a long period of hibernation. Adrienne had no idea if her long icy sleep had caused the girl some unexpected long-term effects, so it was preferable if she could be kept under constant observation. Adrienne said so to Major Metzger who had come to get an update on the child's health.

"When is she expected to wake up?" Metzger asked.

"She wakes up when she's ready to wake up," Adrienne told him with a-matter-of-factly tone. "This is something that is not to be rushed. She requires her own time to recover."

"Time is something we don't have, doctor."

"Time is something you're going to have to give in this case, major, whether you like it or not!" Adrienne retorted.

"We _need_ those access codes!"

"Don't be too optimistic in thinking that you can get them," Adrienne warned. "While I do have the technical data on her bodily functions, I have no idea how it is with her brain! She could be suffering a long-term memory loss for all we know!"

"Is that a potential risk?" the major asked concerned.

"I have never known of a case of somebody sleeping for two-hundred years! I have no idea what to expect! That's why I want to proceed with caution!"

"Well then, then you better write down everything you do know about the girl and how you recommend proceeding in case of trouble. It's necessary so that we can put an around-the-clock watch on her."

"_I_ will watch over her, you don't need to worry about that."

"No, you won't."

"What do you mean?"

"Jacob McHagen has other plans for you."

Adrienne's bones were suddenly growing cold. "What plans?"

"You'll find out soon enough," the major said dispassionately. Adrienne had a feeling though what the immoral supreme commander had in mind. "Now hold on there…" she raged. "I'm a _civilian!_ And I've _resigned!_ He can't transfer me around like I'm some grunt in the force!"

Metzger wasn't swayed the least. "Perhaps you failed to notice the fine-print in the non-disclosure agreement you signed when you first signed up? Everybody who is involved in the military's secrets is entitled by law to help and assist in maintaining a localized order in case of an emergency of the projects to prevent the secrets from falling into enemy hands. This duty stands, no matter what your service status is! Once you got involved, doctor, you're involved for life, with the commander having every right to order you around even if you've resigned all of your commissions! Failure to do so is considered a felony where you will be charged for treason and be locked up for the rest of your life!"

Adrienne stood shivering with both anger and fear.

"You don't need to worry about that girl," the major finished. "She is no longer your problem."

* * *

Author's notes: The thaw-up process is all inspired and taken from the movie Jason X as well as the novelization after it, so the credit for all technical and biological stuff written here goes to those writers. The bone-cement and the dermal regenerator however is mine.


	11. The angry child

Jacob McHagen was a man who had the personal view that power was to grant privileges. He did not at all believe that it was somewhat egotistical for a man of his social class to think that certain luxury goods were to be reserved solely for the people who were part of the elite society while the lesser population had to settle with second-rate merchandise. It was the way it should be in his opinion. Power earned better accommodations. If you couldn't reach that level, then you were not worthy to have the finest the world had to offer.

It was the same with food. While the grunts had to settle with the usual simple meals of C-rations, (which was excused with the brass pointing out that they had all the balanced properties of nutrition, bulk, and roughage – the grunts were just fussy eaters), he himself would settle with nothing less than the finest of all culinary. The conference room on the second floor also served as McHagen's personal dining room, and the table was loaded with an overflow of extravagant dishes: lobster, turkey, caviar, and plenty of other courses that you would only find in a five-star restaurant - way too much for one person to eat as it was a table set for a dozen people. That which he wouldn't consume himself was to go to his closest staff the next day, like it did with every meal he had. McHagen liked to make the first pick of a freshly-cooked cuisine from every plate and leave the rest to his underlings – he was after all the supreme commander. The only thing he never left to his staff was the wine; that was solely his private stock. And so that he wouldn't have to suffer any envious glances from other diners, he always enjoyed it by his own.

Today would be different though; he was expecting another to his table. He figured that by offering some fine food, he would be able to easily wrench out that which he wanted from the other. And just as he thought about that fact, the comm was buzzing.

"Excuse me, Sir," a voice said over the radio. "but your 'dinner guest' is here."

"Well then, send her in!" McHagen said and then terminated the connection. The door opened, and Bors, one of the soldiers that had served aboard the _Athena,_ but who had been transferred to a different post in the habitat complex came in, leading the recently thawed-up child before him. It hadn't been that long since the girl had come to, so she didn't appear to be fully awake yet. She walked in slowly, face downcast and eyes unfocused. Shouldn't come as a surprise though, considering how long she had been frozen. That annoying Dr. Kinloch had warned that she might come to suffer some hibernation-sickness this shortly after her revival, plus that she would be dazed after the surgery. The doctor would probably even object to that the child already was up and about. _To hell with her,_ Jacob McHagen thought to himself. Dr. Adrienne Kinloch was no longer of any concern, his latest transfer orders had seen to that. And as for the child, he really didn't care that much for her welfare. He needed answers and he had no time to wait. He dismissed the soldier who had brought the child in, whom went out to stand at his post outside the door alongside another guard that was already present. The child was left standing alone in the middle of the floor, unmoving, but looking quite disoriented. No one had bothered to try and make her a little more presentable: her hair was an unruly mess, tangled and matted. She was dressed in the same red overall that bore a label on her chest that said 'Fixer' which she had been carrying throughout the whole time in the pod - it was amazing that it too had survived the frozen state. After the submersion in the liquid that had thawed her up, the technicians had only settled with a quick dry of the uniform, so it looked a little stale on the girl's frame. Yet she still managed to somehow retain the appearance of a cute little girl. But McHagen didn't care how she looked. It was what was in her mind that he was looking for. It was time now to take on the role as the nice uncle.

"Welcome, Rebecca Jorden," he said with what he believed was his best tone when talking to children. It still carried a hint of arrogance. "My name is Jacob. Jacob McHagen. I am told that the dizziness you're experiencing will pass soon. Some food in your tummy might help to settle things a bit. Please, sit down and help yourself with what you like. I'm sure you're hungry, Rebecca?"

The girl didn't move. But she did focus her gaze on the stranger addressing her. She tried to read him, to take in who he was. She wasn't sure what to make of him though as she still was a bit confused, being as half asleep as she still was. She decided to answer with the only thing she was for certain of in her own mind, until she knew what this man's intentions were.

"My name is Newt," she said in a distant and detached tone.

"Newt?" McHagen's 'friendly' demeanor was replaced with one of a startled look. Had there been a mistake? "Wait a minute, are you certain? My people were so sure! They assured me that you were in fact Rebecca Jorden! And you're telling me that you…?"

"Yeah, yeah, it _is_ me," the girl confirmed reluctantly. "It's my given name. But everybody called me Newt."

McHagen huffed, being annoyed with that he had been momentarily mislead. "Newt? What kind of a name is that? You were named after a lizard?"

The girl's eyes squinted with a bit of anger. "I happen to _like_ it! It also happens to be _all_ that I have _left!"_

McHagen leaned back in his chair, no longer feeling like playing the game. "Suit yourself, Rebecca," he said as he sipped his wine. Newt came to a decision on where her feelings were concerned: she didn't like this man.

McHagen could sense her resentment for him, but he didn't care much for it. "Sit down, Rebecca, and have something to eat. We could at least behave like _civilized_ people!"

The girl still didn't move. Although she was most probably famished, she barely even cast a glance at the table that was loaded with all the food. She had other priorities she wanted settled. "How long… was I…?" she asked instead.

"How long were you frozen?" The nerve of that girl! Asking him questions like he was some form of counsellor. On the other hand, the answer could be found to be amusing. Maybe by learning the truth would she become humbler, as children should be. So he would give her just this one answer.

"It's the year 2383, September the 19:th. You've been asleep for two hundred years."

Two hundred years. To any other person it would be a disastrous number. Two lifetimes past, and everything you knew and everybody you had ever known was undoubtedly gone. Any person would go crazy finding out you had been thrown so far out of your own time, with no hope of going back. To Newt however it earned nothing more than a shrug. "I see," she said in a low tone, looking back down at the floor. She had been sleeping for far longer than expected. It meant no one had come looking for the lost expedition she had been shanghaied on. It seemed like she was back solely by pure chance. (Not by luck. She didn't feel lucky. Being back felt more like misfortune. She thought she would have been better off remaining frozen.)

Now McHagen really got confused. Was that her only reaction? What kind of a child was this? He had expected a whining kid whom was going to start crying for her mother, not this quiet girl who seemed indifferent to her whereabouts. "You should consider yourself lucky to be alive, there has before you never been any cases of somebody surviving such an unusual long time in a freezer pod. The last known case extended to only 57 years. That's one heck of a feat."

Newt didn't answer – she only glanced at him feeling her dislike for him grow even more. Did he think that she did it willingly? McHagen understood that he had expressed himself in the wrong way, so he continued to talk in an attempt to break the ice.

"What I mean is that you certainly seem to take it well. I just told you that you've been gone for two centuries. Doesn't it mean anything to you as you have outlived your own time like you have?"

"It makes no difference," she said neutrally, looking away from him. "I had nothing when I went under, just like I have nothing now. All that I had… everyone I ever knew… they were all already gone. I was all alone then… just like I'm all alone now." She finally walked over to the table and sat down on the chair that was on the opposite side of McHagen's on the far end. She didn't face him though, just like she didn't look at the food. Her eyes were solely focused on an invisible spot in the air before her. "All alone," she repeated dejectedly in a whisper before she fell back into silence.

It was all clear to the man now that this was not the ordinary type of a child. She was very young, and yet she spoke with the wisdom of an adult. He found it intriguing, and felt it to be a relief. Although he had been prepared for it, he had not been looking forward to deal with a hysterical kid - he never had the patience for that kind of thing. But apparently, he didn't need to. If he could speak with her on an adult's level, then so much the better.

The girl finally seemed to take notice of the food. Slowly, she reached for the tray with turkey legs, and she picked one at random. She studied the piece of meat for a few moments before moving it to her mouth. She took a small bite - it was juicy, smelling fresh and was cooked with perfection. It would really satisfy the taste buds of any consumer, making the person want to savor every morsel. But to Newt it was dry, harsh, and tasteless like a piece of paper. She chewed on the tiny chunk of meat with disinterest, not feeling like swallowing it. Her stomach was empty, but she had no appetite at all. It was as dead as the rest of her world.

McHagen decided that he could skip the small talk. The child had accepted her situation and she was not susceptible to any attempts of comforting words. Those would be wasted on her. He poured up another glass of wine and then he went straight to business.

"I'd like to know what the _Hercules'_ final mission was. What was your role onboard the vessel?" It had turned out that the flight-recorder salvaged from the ruined EEV had not been able to produce any information at all, and neither had any other black boxes recovered from the field of debris. It was like somebody had prevented any data to be recorded due to the nature of the secret mission.

The girl was still examining the turkey leg as if trying in vain to summon the lust to consume it when she countered the question with another. "Why do you want to know that?" Her tone revealed a sense of cautiousness.

"Why wouldn't I want to know?" he fired back with annoyance. "One of our ships disappeared off the grid with all hands! Naturally we'd like to know how that happened!"

Newt's reply was to McHagen's chagrin a clear rebuke. "Well, that is the one thing I won't go into."

McHagen felt his anger flare up. He was not used to being contradicted, and it annoyed him a lot that a child dared to be cheeky against him. "That's not how things work in this age, girl!" he told her firmly. "It is necessary for us to know what has happened, and you're in no position to withhold that information! It would be in your best interest to tell us everything!"

"Wrong!" Newt shot back. "_My_ best interest would be that everything that happened never came to anybody's knowledge again! The only thing you need to know is that whatever the _Hercules_ was after is _gone_, and it would be best for everybody if it remained forgotten for all time!"

"Gone, you say?" McHagen gave her a wicked smile and then he hit a button on the table. Newt didn't know it, but she was sitting with her back against a covered window. The shutters began to roll up, and the man motioned with his hand to the girl for her to turn around and have a look. Newt did, and the view she caught filled her with both shock and dread. Because outside, resting on a cliff nearby, was the familiar shape of the U-formed crashed derelict, the very ship that had brought eternal curse to Newt's life.

"_NO!_" she cried out in despair. "_**NO!**__ It was supposed to be destroyed! Bishop was supposed to destroy it!"_

"Perhaps now you understand why we need to know what you know?" McHagen said smugly, taking pleasure of her fright.

Newt's mind was racing. The derelict was intact, which meant that Bishop had died failing. It also meant that she now knew where she was: she was still on LV-426! Would she be stuck on this accursed place forever? Then the next question was roused: what were these people doing on this planet? This unfamiliar facility – and she could see one more on the other side of the derelict - why did they build all this on this one rock that was unsuitable to uphold life with its hazardous environment? LV-426, or Acheron as it was once called by her colony was in the middle of a nuclear winter after the atmosphere processor blew two-hundred years ago. No one would bother to build all this just to rescue a marooned girl! There was another purpose behind this… and what was the purpose connected to LV-426 that always compelled men to go to any lengths to acquire it? The purpose that had drawn the _Hercules_ here in the first place… the purpose that had given her an everlasting nightmare, and had even caused her death!

Newt slowly twisted around in her seat, turning away from the window, and directed her gaze at the man on the other end of the table. Her eyes squinted in fury – she understood exactly what was really going on here! Her voice was but a whisper, but it was filled with pure venom. "You found _them_… and you're _breeding_ them!" McHagen was taken aback when he saw her young face. It wasn't just filled with resentment anymore… it radiated pure hatred. Hatred of _him_ he realized.

"_You're breeding them, you bastard!"_ she then screamed. And there was only one way to breed the creatures – a certain sacrifice that needed to be made. "_**You son of a bitch!"**_

McHagen barely had time to register what happened next, and he couldn't believe it. Newt suddenly sprang up from her chair and jumped up on the table which she ran across, making the dishes clatter with loud noise as her feet stomped over the surface. Before McHagen could react, the child was upon him, knocking into him so hard that his glasses flew off and his chair toppled backwards which sent him crashing to the floor with the girl riding along with him. Newt didn't give him time to recover. Sitting astride over his chest and using the turkey leg as a club, she began to beat him over the face repeatedly while she screamed cursed words at him. Never had she felt such uncontrollable rage course through her.

"_**You slime! Scumbag! Bastard! Murderer! MONSTER!"**_

It was only because the young judas of a recruit, Ensign Andersson was coming by to give a report and saw what was happening that the two soldiers standing post outside the door became aware of what was going on, otherwise they would've noticed nothing through the soundproof barriers of glass surrounding the conference room. Bors and the other rushed in to liberate their supreme commander from the wild girl.

"Get her off me!" McHagen spat between the hits of the turkey leg. The two soldiers grabbed hold of the child's arms and pulled her off. It wasn't an easy task as Newt was in a complete frenzy. She snarled, kicked with her legs, and even attempted to bite them as she resisted. But one small child, one who was weakened by hunger and not yet fully recovered from an unusual long sleep against two strong adults were not good odds to match. She ceased her struggle as she was caught in the hold of the soldiers, but she glared angrily at the man she had beaten. If looks had been lethal, then McHagen would have been dead on the spot.

Meanwhile Andersson scrambled to his leader's side to help him up, but the man roughly showed him away, refusing the help. McHagen got up on his feet, radiating fury of his own. He had been humiliated in front of his men, standing there with messy clothes and his face smeared with the sauces from the piece of meat Newt had hit him with, and it displeased him tremendously. He snatched to him a napkin from the table and began to clean his face, but he looked ready to retaliate to the child. He didn't do it though, as it wouldn't look good to commit child abuse in front of his soldiers.

"All right!" he growled as he wiped his face and put his glasses back on the bridge of his nose. "You obviously understand more than I thought you would! Then you understand what it is we're facing here, the rules we need to follow to keep them in check…"

"_Idiots!"_ Newt barked. "There's only _one_ rule that applies when it comes to those creatures, and that is to _stay away from them! Don't go anywhere near them! _But there's no point of telling you that, is there? You just _had_ to get your sticky paws on them, and now it's gone out of control! They've already broken free, haven't they? Two hundred years gone by, and you've learned _nothing!"_

Newt's outburst didn't leave any of the soldiers present untouched. To hear a child speak with words that would only have been expected coming from a grown-up was unsettling, even disturbing.

"Don't lecture me, young lady!" McHagen spat. "Despite what you believe, I got _everything_ under control!" Here he turned to Andersson for confirmation. "Right?" he demanded.

The back-stabbing trainee swallowed. "Actually… I came to report that… all contact with the fourth team you sent out to herd back the creatures to their pens have been lost. All readings have been broken and… we can only assume that they too were overwhelmed by the species just like the others… and that they have perished."

McHagen groaned. "Can't anyone do _anything_ right? Incompetent _fools!"_

"_You're_ the fool!" Newt snapped. "Not only have you lost control, but you're sending your own people to their deaths to undo something that _can't_ be undone! And that will only make _more_ of them!"

"I will have no more of that from you!"

But Newt was far from finished. "Why'd you wake me up? You don't care about me! You claim you got things under control, but you don't, so you must think I have something you need, why else would you wake me up? What do you want with me?"

The tide was turned. McHagen had always taken pride of his ability to read through people and watching them break when he turned their own words against them. But now this little girl, an outcast from the past, had without trouble read through _him _and has exposed his lie, and in effect just given him a dose of his own medicine – and damn, how bitter it tasted. She was more intelligent than he had ever thought possible where a child was concerned. Well, if the cat was out of the bag, then he could just as well cut to the chase.

He locked eyes with the child who was still held tightly in her arms by his soldiers so that she wouldn't try anything, and he emphasized every syllable he formed. "Within the escape pod where we found you, there also was a disc! As we read the index on it, we found it to be a complete journal of the xenomorph species, with data we ourselves wouldn't have thought of – including the information on how to _restrain_ them! But the index is all that is available to us, the files themselves are locked with passwords, which my 'experts' are incapable of breaking! The prompts says that the disc belongs to _you_, which tells us that you are the only one who has the codes required to access the data… and that's the reason we thawed you up! We need you to _give_ us those codes!"

"_What?!"_ Newt had all but forgotten about that disc which Bishop had given her before they parted for the last time. Still, she remembered the specific instructions he had given her: don't let anyone she didn't trust get access to that disc. That was one of the reasons why she now spoke with a resolute determination.

"_**Never!"**_

"_No!?"_ McHagen questioned in frustration.

"Those monsters _killed_ my family – they destroyed my home… they even killed _me!_ They've made my life a living hell, and all because some nutball in the Company wanted to make a fortune on those things! _I hate them!_ I want them _gone!_ You're _stupid_ if you think I would help you gain control of them!"

McHagen looked ready to explode. He had to summon all his self-control to remain calm, to try to reason with this resilient girl. "You have the power to help us, to get this situation back under control! If you refuse, then you will be carrying the guilt of dooming more people along with us!"

"Like hell!" Newt spat, refusing to take the bait. "The fault is all yours, for being stupid enough for trying in the first place!"

"I'm trying to _rectify_ the mess! Are you really going to be so persistent that you won't give me _anything_ to help?!"

"You want an advice? I'll _give_ you one! Take off and nuke the site from orbit! It's the only way to be _sure!_" It was painful to recite those words. Ripley first spoke them. It was one of her many feelings of loss yet to be overcome, despite what the woman had done to her.

"That's _not_ an option!" McHagen hissed.

"Well, _die_ then!" the girl replied with an icy tone.

"That's not an option _either!_ You'll have to give me something _better_ than that!"

Newt scowled. "You don't get it, do you? There _are_ no other options! Not with _them!_ You're gonna die!"

"Not unless you give me those codes!" McHagen raged.

"It won't make any difference!" Newt said determinately. "You're _still_ gonna die!"

The supreme commander exploded. "What kind of a child _is_ this?! Get her out of my sight! Lock her up in her room! Maybe some time in solitude with a certain view will make her reconsider!"

"You're nothing but _bullies!_" Newt screamed back at McHagen as Bors began to drag her away. "And murderers! You're no better than Weyland! You're both the same kind of monsters! You're all _bastards!_"

"Where does children pick all those harsh words up?" Andersson asked, more in general rather than expecting an answer. An angry glare from McHagen made him to shut up in any case.

* * *

It was a different child that Bors brought from McHagen's residence than the one he had brought in. In the beginning she had been quiet and withdrawn, and meek as a lamb. Now she was like a wild beast. Bors had locked his powerful arms around the girl's waist as he carried her with him, pinning her arms to her sides. But even though he was an adult with superior strength, she kept fighting to get free. She didn't like to be held in this manner. The last time she had been carried off against her will had been in the clutches of an alien monster and she did not want to be reminded of that incident. The discomfort she had felt from that time had been synonymous with fear, and it was the memory of that fear that was fueling her anger now. She wanted, _needed_ to be in control of her own actions and not have anybody making the decisions for her. The fact that someone did made her even more furious.

It was a relief for Bors to reach his destination. The kid was a real pain in the ass in his opinion. He'd never had any real patience with children - he always thought them to be too noisy, greedy, and uncooperative. The girl fitted quite well with the last category.

Newt had no way of knowing it, but the room they've arrived to used to belong to the doctor that had treated her. Now after McHagen's latest scheme for Dr. Kinloch, it was vacated and free for use. Bors thought that the comfortable accommodations in there were more than what the girl deserved.

"You're a feisty little one," Bors snorted at his 'load'. "…but some time in here should perhaps teach you some respect!" He wasn't gentle with the child. Bors unceremoniously dropped her off beside the bed, or more like almost throwing her to the floor. Newt landed hard, felt the pain of the rough handling burn through her limbs. But she refused to give him any of her tears – she only glared angrily at him as if silently vowing that she would somehow return the favor for how he'd treated her.

"Now don't think of trying anything stupid," Bors told her almost smugly. "The room is monitored by a camera – we can see anything that you do in here. It's imbedded in the wall right up there beside the grate. See?" He pointed up to the spot where a rectangular 'eye' was covering the room. A glowing red light beside the lens indicated that it was operational. Newt noticed that the grate Bors was referring to was a cover to an airduct. Most likely the soldier meant that you could access the camera through there.

"Don't get the idea of trying to mess with it," Bors continued, although he found it ludicrous to think that a child would have a knowledge with disabling a camera. "That grate is electrified. You would burn your fingers if you'd put your hands on it. Enjoy your stay, kid. The view is quite spectacular!"

Newt turned around against the window and was immediately filled with dread. The window was facing that accursed derelict! She could see it quite clearly! Blast that McHagen! Newt understood that he had done this deliberately to make her uncomfortable!

"See you later!" Bors mocked her as he went through the door. Newt sprang up from the floor, trying to escape before it closed. She did _not_ want to be in there – not with that alien ship just right outside! But the door was sealed right before her nose and it would not open. Crying out in rage, she kicked it and slammed her hands against the barrier a few times, but she soon understood that it was to no avail. She turned her back to it, leaned heavily against it and slid down towards the floor. That was when the tears began to fall. Not because she was caged or because she had once again been dragged into the horrors of the aliens, but because she felt that she had just lost the last shred of her former identity. She was shocked by the anger she had expressed, and what it had made her do. Never had she felt that way before. It was not who she was! Back in her colony she was always the kind, gentle little girl that everybody had loved. She had never been this wild, raging beast that McHagen had somehow summoned from her core. This development scared her a lot. It made her feel like more of an alien rather than a human.

She folded up her knees against her chest and placed her arms on top of them. She then leaned her face down and wept, crying for her lost humanity. The aliens and humans alike had truly now taken away everything that were ever dear to her.


	12. The secret syndicate

"There have been no movement at all?"

It was the next morning with new activity in the conference room. The mess after yesterday's commotion (which McHagen refused to divulge any closer details about) had been cleaned out and all of the supreme commander's staff members had taken their seats for a progress meeting.

"None whatsoever of what we have been able to detect, Commander," General Berger-Hauser said. "It's like they're content with being where they are – the species haven't tried to make a move over here or anything."

"Maybe they really are vulnerable to the radiation outside?" Lieutenant Colonel Maziq speculated. "It's as hazardous to them as it is to us?"

Major Metzger whom had been the commander in charge of operations in the research tower before the crisis had started shook his head. "That contradicts everything we know about them. From what we have learned, they're quite adaptable to any environment. I seriously doubt that a little radiation is going to hinder them."

"Then why do they simply bide their time over there…? Not that I'm complaining…!"

"Maybe they're satisfied with the fact that we've so far already given them what they want: new meat. As long as they get that, they don't feel the need to come over here." This was said by Colonel Hayes, the same man who had expressed concerns with the fact that a commuterliner had been hijacked and the passengers had been used as cattle for their first breeding attempt on the _Auriga _over a year ago.

"That's morbid!" Colonel Benelli said with a bit of disgust.

"If we are to be so callous about lives, then why don't we continue to ship our troopers over there – that way we'll be safe, won't we?" Hayes didn't seriously mean that they should continue to do so. McHagen could see it: it was his guilt talking - the man was slowly breaking down, feeling regret for all the lives that so far had been lost. McHagen made a mental note to have Colonel Hayes removed somehow as he was starting to become a liability.

Admiral Henderson took up the argument. "Look, whatever the reason as to why the subjects decide to remain in the other complex, we can be sure that it is just a temporary respite. Sooner or later they _will_ come for us. We need an advantage 'til that happens!"

"We need to take action way before that," McHagen said. "We _need_ to get operations back up and running over there, like it was meant to!"

"So you _are_ suggesting that we send more of our troops over there to get killed?!" Hayes exclaimed. "How can we live with ourselves?"

"This isn't just about the project anymore!" McHagen snapped at him. "Our whole future with the science department is at stake!" He turned to his assistant. "Tell them!" This was the _true_ reason McHagen had summoned the staff to a meeting today.

The assistant Spencer cleared his throat before he began to speak. "An hour ago we received a communique from the congress at the Pentagon… they are most concerned, and very displeased with what has been going on here. Not only have many lives been lost… but our _financial_ expenses have gone way over budget! We had expected to be reaping from the benefits of studying the species by now, but since the project is in a stand-still because of the break-out, the costs are still ticking, and nothing is returned! They're demanding an explanation!"

"How much do they know of what is going on here?" Maziq asked, looking concerned.

"They do not know the full extent of our crisis… but they know enough to be wary of our lack of results and of our losses. If we don't get operations up as they're supposed to be, the congress is going to seize all of our funds and instigate a full-scale investigation."

"An investigation?" Many of the staff-members were feeling lumps forming in their throats. "Much of what we have been doing here haven't exactly been… all the way _legal_. Neither was it with the operation on the _Auriga…_ what we did on that ship was never _approved_ by congress!"

"We're going to get hanged by our testicles from a tree if the congress ever gets the wind on what we have been doing here!" McHagen pointed out. "The magnitude of the scandal will be _ours _to suffer! What do you think will happen to our careers, our reputations… our way of life?" Every member of McHagen's staff were living a rather expensive life due to their positions. In fact, much of the incomes which the special research department received through their 'scientific discoveries' in the past had been divided between them as bonuses – more than what their contracted shares were supposed to be.

They were a secret syndicate. What the outside world didn't know was that much of the United Systems Military Special Research Department's progresses had been done through immoral as well as illegal ways over the years. Through careful planning, the syndicate had in order to get the desired results orchestrated methods that was as unethical as unconventional merely because it was cheaper and faster to do it that way, and they took the project-funds that they had saved for their own. Sometimes they hadn't even bothered to initiate the research of a project they sought funds for – instead they stole the finished work from a laboratory whom they knew was working against the interests of the US. A simple well-placed rocket wiped out the enemy scientists to silence them, and then the experiments conducted there were seized and later presented as a breakthrough made by American scientists with nobody knowing better since the syndicate always made sure to conceal all the gross details from the progress reports. The budget that had gone into funding the project that never took place all went equally into the staff members' accounts.

Thanks to their illegal schemes, the members of the United Systems Military Special Research Department were all living in luxury, with fine dinners together with other wealthy people and other expensive benefits; like fine schools for their children, incredible houses, exclusive clubs… If their illegal activities were to come to light, all that would come to an end, and they would all suffer time in prison. None of them were prepared for that. Hell, the incident with the hijacked cryotubes that were delivered to the _Auriga_ was enough to sentence them all for a lifetime in jail. Not even the transfer of the prisoners sentenced to death that were brought to LV-426 to use as hosts had been approved by any authority. McHagen had gone completely behind the congress' back on that one.

"How could we have let things go this far?" Hayes asked.

"Don't go sniveling on me now!" McHagen raged. "We're not here to discuss what we have done wrong – we are here to figure out what we are to do about it! Think, dammit! How can we get things back under control?!"

"We need to restrain the subjects!" Admiral Henderson called out.

"Well, thank you for pointing out the obvious!" McHagen snorted.

"In order to restrain them, we need the information written on that disc," Colonel Benelli said. "We must have those codes!"

McHagen was ready to explode. These people were keeping stating facts that were already apparent. "Naturally we need those codes, but that brat refused to give them up!"

"Why's that?"

McHagen wanted to shoot the man who asked that. "Well, she obviously didn't agree with what we were doing here, what does her reasons matter?! What can we do to get the codes?! _That's_ the question I want answered!"

"Can't we reason with her?" Colonel Benelli inputted. "Make a deal?"

"I _tried_ that! She threw it in my face!" Literally even, but he didn't say that aloud.

"How about we try some sodium pentathol?" the major asked. The people around the table was looking at him with startled expressions. Benelli even looked outraged.

"_Truth serum?!_ On a _child?!_ Hey, I may be an immoral guy sometimes, but that's where I draw the line! I have children myself, you know! Grand-children even!"

"I wouldn't even risk it," General Berger-Hauser said. "Not with the soldiers we got here. They may be submissive, but it is every soldier's sworn duty to disobey illegal orders and report any egregious misconducts to the superiors. Some would perhaps fall in, but certainly not everybody. No, we need to do it another way."

Benelli agreed. "So we need to come in good terms with her. What could she possibly want?"

"What can we even _offer?_ She's two hundred years after her time and we're out in the deepest regions of space! We got _nothing_ here that would satisfy her desires, whatever those would be!"

"Give her some candy," the major said. "When she's getting cravings for more, perhaps then will she be willing to give us the codes."

"Oh, come on!" Benelli rolled his eyes. "We need to think of her health here! We're responsible for her whether we like it or not! God knows how long ago she has eaten, we could make her sick if we gave her sweets."

"Well, she _hasn't_ eaten since she was revived," McHagen snarled. "I tried to give her some of mine, but she wouldn't take it! Talk about a fussy eater!"

"We need to remember her background," the other replied. "She was part of a terraforming colony, they all lived plainly. Your food was probably too advanced for her." McHagen huffed at that.

"I think she would be more receptive to something simpler, like… pancakes! Kids love pancakes with strawberry jam and whipped cream."

McHagen huffed again, feeling disgusted of the thought of such plain cuisine. He himself would never touch that kind of food "Fine," he relented. "Have the chef make her some… _pancakes_ then. Maybe then she will become a little more cooperative. Give her a promise of ice cream for desert afterwards, and maybe then we can go for some negotiations."

* * *

An hour later a grunt serving in the kitchen was standing outside Dr. Kinloch's former quarters, carrying a tray with freshly made pancakes with jam and whipped cream. The soldier Bors, who was to stand guard outside the door while the grunt served the food snorted, thinking that they were spoiling the kid. She could settle with the same kind of food as the rest of them in his opinion. But he said nothing as he opened the door and let the grunt in.

When the grunt entered, he found the girl sitting quietly in the bed with her back turned against him.

"Got you some lunch," he said. "Some yummy pancakes with strawberry and whipped cream and a glass of milk. There's even a promise of ice cream afterwards. What do you say to that?"

The girl turned slowly around, and the grunt was taken aback. The expression on her face was far from friendly.

Bors and some others who happened to be in the corridor at the same time were startled as they heard an unexpected commotion coming from inside the quarters. "_Hey, wait! What are you…? Are you crazy?!"_

Then grunt suddenly rushed out in a crouched posture as if he was ducking for something, and he was. Because the plate with the food flew right above his head like a flying saucer where it ended its flight smacking into the opposite wall, smearing the surface with strawberry jam and whipped cream. The pancakes ended up on the floor like they were nothing but lumps of rags. The glass of milk then followed it, leaving a white puddle next to the ruined food.

"Well, _starve_ then, you ungrateful little wench!" Bors roared and slammed his hand on the control-panel, sealing the door once more.

* * *

"Hunger-striking?!" McHagen couldn't believe what he was hearing. "She's _hunger-striking?!" _

Colonel Benelli who had suggested the meal shook his head in amazement. "You gotta admit: she's got character, that girl."

"She's a damn _troublemaker_, that's what she is!" McHagen growled. They've only had her for three days, half that time she had been unconscious, but already she had set the rules, holding them hostage to a game they didn't have time to play.

"What does she hope to gain by this?" Berger-Hauser asked in confusion. "She herself will be the one suffering for her refusal to eat."

"Maybe we shouldn't have been so quick about 'dismissing' Dr. Kinloch…" Lieutenant Colonel Maziq mumbled.

"What's that got to do with this?!" McHagen asked angrily.

"Her notes in which she wrote about the girl's possible problems that might've occurred after her long-term hibernation doesn't cover this behavior. There's no way to tell if this is psychological or if it is any other disturbance. Perhaps she might've come to a solution?"

"Oh, come on!" Admiral Henderson snorted. "Her area of expertise was in the biological department, she wasn't a shrink! And I don't think that the child's behavior is anywhere connected to her frozen state: this is just some childish whim of hers! Are we really to let her dictate how things are run here? I say: let her starve for now if she wants to. She will soon find out what a bad idea that is."

McHagen nodded in approval of that thought. "Right. And when she gets so hungry that she can't handle it anymore, she will come begging us for food. And she won't get any, until she's given us the codes."

"That sounds cruel," Colonel Benelli said, looking disturbed by the idea. "It's kind of blackmail!"

"She was the one who set the rules," McHagen said in a tone that left no room for argument. "Now she will have to suffer the consequences for them. It's only a matter of time before she gives up!"

* * *

But after another two days, it was McHagen who had to give up. The girl was either incredibly stubborn, or she was cheating in some way. But her room was monitored, and those who watched her through the screens swore that she wasn't eating anything at all. And during the time that passed while he waited for the girl to give in, which right now looked like she never would, the toll on the crisis they were going through with the xenomorphs was wearing down on the supreme commander's demeanor. The costs were running, and the congress-people at the Pentagon were getting more annoyed by each day. McHagen needed to get control back, but the problem would remain unresolved until he got those codes - but if the child didn't eat something soon, he may never get them. McHagen was beginning to think that the girl would rather collapse from hunger before surrendering the codes, and if she did, there was no telling how long she would be out of it. Hell, since she was so weakened from her frozen state, a collapse of hunger might even kill her. He had never expected that her hate for the aliens would be so enormous that she would rather die of starvation than allowing McHagen to make use of the species.

But lately he had taken the time to read up on her profile from the old records, and yesterday he had received new information which he believed he could use as a different term for negotiation. Right now he was waiting for her in the conference room to try to talk some sense into her. There was no food on the table this time – he already knew that it wouldn't work on her.

Once again the soldier Bors brought her before him. She wasn't fidgeting this time, but he could see that her resentment of him hadn't changed the least. McHagen dismissed Bors as he wanted to speak with the girl privately, and for a short while man and child just stared at each other in silence, each no doubt thinking dark thoughts of the other. Finally McHagen spoke up.

"How long were you planning to go on like this?" he asked her. The girl didn't answer, but her mouth twisted into a hint of a smile. Not a friendly one though.

"You've been going without food for four days ever since you woke up! It's not good for you! You're becoming thinner by every day! Why do you keep this up? Don't you feel something? Don't you feel how unpleasant that is?"

"I'm used to hunger," she said simply. She didn't elaborate on how that came to be. McHagen sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"As we speak, I have my people filling up the refrigerator of the kitchenette in your quarters with food. This is not a game we can play anymore, Rebecca. You have to eat!"

"My name is Newt!" she replied sourly.

"Your birth certificate says 'Rebecca'! I'm sticking to the facts that I've got!" Had some of his staff members been there, McHagen would've been told that he wouldn't have any good chance of negotiating with her by not agreeing to her preferred titles. He was sticking a wedge even further between them. They were back at staring angrily at each other.

"I need the codes," McHagen finally said.

"It's that you believe that I would actually _give_ them to you I don't get!" Newt snapped at the man who was taken aback. It was so hard to comprehend that this child sometimes spoke like an adult – it took every listener by surprise every time she did. Therefore he tried a different approach.

"All right, I understand your reluctance. I understand that you had some bad experiences with the species that makes you feel a bit apprehensive to them. I can sympathize with you on how it was like, I understand that…"

"You lie!" Newt hissed. "You don't know a _thing!_" The girl was suddenly losing her composure, changing back into the child she truly was. It looked like she was about to cry. "You don't know at all how it was like… to be alone there with those monsters around… the monsters that had taken everything from me… killing my family… my friends… my people being killed in a horrible way… and all the while I knew… I knew that they would do the same to me if they got to me." She was shivering as she said this. "You can claim that you understand all you want… but you _don't!_ You'll never know the horror I went through… not until they are upon you, and then it will be too late! You'll be dead! Why can't you ever understand? They'll bring you nothing but _death!_ Why do you persist in looking for them?! What do you think you will _gain_ from them?!"

McHagen was unmoved. He gave the reply well-rehearsed, as if he had been practicing it in front of a mirror many times.

"The scientific value they can provide. Once we are able to break the xenomorph's genetic code, there's no limit to what we could do! All the tactical possibilities, a whole new understanding on the laws of physics, the advances to be made in pharmacology, bioengineering, defense… the possibilities are endless! You're too young to understand: we humans have a strive to always better ourselves, and the species will provide us with a gigantic leap. You are so focused on the negative, but if you only would understand the other side… it will be a benefit for humankind! And once we get control of them, it will be the end of all deaths. We will hold the leash. And you can help us, if only you would give me the codes! Otherwise your people back in your colony will have died for nothing! It will be in their name we will reap all of the benefits – they will have made it possible. And you, young lady, you would be rich beyond your wildest imaginations. You would be set up for life."

McHagen should not have said the last thing, not that it would have made a difference anyway. "So in the end, like always, it all comes down to the money!" Newt said coldly.

McHagen went into his negotiating mode. "So maybe it's not money you want… but everybody has a price. I'm sure there's something you want above anything else… something that I can give you in exchange for the codes."

"You have _nothing_ you can offer me!" Newt spat.

"Ah, but I think I do," the man said. He picked up a remote which he directed at the viewscreen that was the back wall of the room. "Some months ago on Earth, there was an attack against an office building by a group of pirates. I think you will find the footage captured of the attack to be quite interesting."

Newt huffed. Why did he think that would that be of any interest to her? But McHagen activated the viewer, which shoved the inside of a lobby that was unfamiliar to her.

As the video footage went on, the front door exploded. There was no sound on, so she was spared of the thundering noise. It was not necessary anyway to have sound. Through the rubble, a strange man appeared with a weapon, looking raving mad. An ugly man, she noted, with a scar cut across his face.

Why would she care about this? It meant nothing to her!

The man with the scar was accompanied by two more men; a pair of twins she noted, and they started to shoot against the picture, possibly against a group of people that was standing behind the footage.

Why would she care about this? It meant nothing to her!

The men were shortly joined by another, this time a woman who looked smaller compared to the men, with short-cropped dark hair and a pleasant face. It seemed that they were arguing about something, of what she didn't know as there was no sound.

Why would she care about this? It meant nothing to her!

The battle raged on, and the intruders were taking cover behind the rubble. It seemed that there was yet another coming in through the smoke now from the ruins of the entrance.

Why would she care about this? It meant nothing to… but then Newt hesitated. It was strange how the new person's silhouette in the smoke somehow looked familiar. But why should it do that? Newt was two hundred years after her time - she knew no one in this era. And yet this person seemed to walk like…

Newt gasped as the person stepped clear from the smoke and came into view. The child's eyes went wide, and she felt a shock come over her that was as strong as the one she received when seeing her father having fallen victim to the aliens. It was like she had suddenly forgotten how to breathe. She could not believe what she saw on the screen - it contradicted everything she had learned, but yet the features were unmistakable.

_Ripley!_

Here McHagen froze the picture. "Not so alone in the universe as you thought," he commented. Newt barely heard him, her eyes were completely transfixed on the giant corner-to-corner screen which showed the woman she had believed was long dead. Because of the view-screen's size, it was like looking up at a full-scale captured image of the woman. Her jaw trembled – she was so confused.

"I can arrange for you to meet," McHagen then said. "I've got contacts which can get in touch with her and pass on all the necessary information. The question is what it will be worth for you? I certainly don't ask for much, only for what you know. Surely the little information which you possess isn't too big of a price for the chance to be reunited with this woman?"

Newt tore her eyes away from the screen, turning her head slowly against the supreme commander. Her voice was but a whisper as she replied.

"What makes you think I _want _to see her?"

Then she turned her heel and escaped the conference room in a rush. Although she would be locked in again, she wanted to return to her room. McHagen was left dumbfounded – he had not expected that reply. This was a disturbing development as he had expected the girl to be eager to see that woman again… it would have been the best turn since the woman in question was in this very moment _already_ on her way to LV-426. He had learned this in the communique that had come in yesterday from the rather helpful Malcolm Verheiden, chairman of Wal-Mart. Not only was the final hardware concerning species XX121 which had been in Weyland's possession finally coming in, (it was due to arrive any day now,) but he was also 'kind' enough to inform his buyer that the rogue creation of his had gotten the wind of what was going on LV-426 and was hot on their tails.

Jacob McHagen knew that Malcolm Verheiden didn't inform this development out of the goodness of his heart – he had done it to expressively tell the military that Ripley was now _their_ problem and they'd had best deal with her! Verheiden did not want to have the woman at his doorstep again.

Had the child wanted to be reunited with the woman, then McHagen would have the perfect bargaining chip to keep Ripley at bay. But now it seemed that he was left with having to use harsher methods by the time she arrived. How annoying - that was certainly all he needed right now!

* * *

Newt's head was pounding. She herself couldn't put the name to the medical term as she was so young, but she was hyperventilating. It was so hard to process what she had just learned.

_Ripley was alive? Ripley was __**alive?!**_

Newt couldn't understand how that could be. Bishop had said that she had jumped into a vat of molten steel to incinerate herself just a few days after Newt herself had died – all to make sure that the alien monsters wouldn't prevail and live on. And that had happened two hundred years ago.

Newt lay down on the bed face down, fighting to get her systems back under control, but that was at the moment very hard.

**_Ripley was alive?!_**

Newt was teary-eyed. She didn't know if it was from the strain of fighting her hyperventilation or if it was because she was so emotionally distressed. It just couldn't be possible. It had to be a trick. Ripley couldn't – _shouldn't_ be in this era!

But then, neither should Newt. She too had died two hundred years ago, and yet here she was. And if there really was somebody who could beat death, it was Ripley. Newt had due to her young age always regarded the woman as a superhuman, beating the aliens when no one else could - that was one of the reasons why Newt had admired her so. All that had gone through her head in an instant when she first saw the picture.

It was a disturbing fact that McHagen had come awfully close in getting her this time. Newt had almost caved in and was prepared to give everything up. The only thing that had stopped her from doing so was because the picture of Ripley had frightened her. It was Ripley's looks, but it hadn't been her eyes. Those eyes had really scared her. They were ferocious, ice-cold, and callous like she was a kind of a predator, and not at all like the Ripley she had known and loved. What frightened her was that this perhaps was the true nature of Ripley, the one that had betrayed and hurt her while the other had been a lie.

She had told McHagen the truth because of that: Newt didn't want to see Ripley. After seeing those eyes, she feared that she would be hurt more than she had ever been before.


	13. The beast within

The _Betty_ broke through space like a shark breaking through the water molecules in the ocean with equal ease as it was her natural environment. The ship's course was determined and unwavering, but the activity onboard though was scarce as there were very few people currently active.

Call was on a self-appointed duty-rooster. She had no choice: they were working the engines beyond their recommended safety capacity – Call had to remain active throughout the entire trip to keep an eye on the ship's status. If things were to go wrong, she was the only one qualified to quickly correct the errors. She wasn't really a mechanic like her deceased friend Vriess had been, but she knew the _Betty_ \- so many times she had been hooked up the ship's central computer core and 'chatted' with it. She would immediately know where the problem originated and would countermand it before it caused havoc.

The rest of the crew: Johner, the Felger twins, and the annoying Zack Ryan were all in the freezers until they'd arrive at their destination - only Ripley was still awake besides Call during this four month-journey. Call couldn't understand why Ripley had made that choice. To sleep would be preferable before the boredom of the long travel – lesser waste of the resources onboard too. But Ripley hadn't given any explanation to her reasons, and for most of the time Call had barely even seen her. The _Betty's_ acting captain was spending most of her duration of the flight at the aft of the ship, just staring out the viewport like she had done most of the time earlier.

It was a development that troubled Call. It wasn't just a sense of a feeling of loneliness, (was she really programmed to feel loneliness?) but because she could see that the other woman kept going through personal changes. It was such subtle changes that most people wouldn't see those, but Call as a synthetic had a more sophisticated eye for even the smallest details.

One of the things that troubled Call greatly was that Ripley was constantly mumbling as if she was having a conversation – but there was no one else around her, which meant that Ripley was talking to herself. Call had never been able to make out the topics, but she had noticed that every time Ripley replied to one of her own sentences, her tone changed character. She acted like there were two people talking, and Call feared that it might actually be the case. Ripley did after all have the entity of Raksha within her: her dark-side persona that was an imprint left by the creature that had grown within her.

The fact that they were conversating was what disturbed Call – what could they possibly have to talk about? And why was Ripley even willing to have a conversation with her 'other' self? She should hate everything Raksha represented, but lately it hadn't seemed to trouble Ripley the least, if it ever had. Call feared that her friend was losing her focus, and perhaps maybe would start to even _sympathize_ with the other part. And if that happened, Call knew that Ripley would become as much of a threat to the galaxy like the xenomorphs were.

Call had tried to ignore it throughout most of the trip, but she felt that she could do so no longer: she _had_ to know what was going on with Ripley. She was right now sneaking closely to Ripley's spot of solitude before the viewport where the other spent most of her time, straining her bionic ears to try to listen in what she, or 'they' were saying.

"- You feel it. Don't you?" Call heard the woman mumble. By the guttural tone of her voice, Call was certain that it was Raksha talking.

"I feel it," Ripley, with a more normal, yet coarsy voice replied. "It's becoming clearer the closer we get."

"- So many of them already!"

"That does appear to be the case," Ripley mumbled, not sounding as enthusiastic as the other had.

"- Why so surprised?" the other, more evil voice said. "- You knew that it was inevitable! You knew that the military would breed them!"

"Where'd they get them?" Ripley asked, sounding disturbingly more curious rather than concerned. "There weren't supposed to be any more eggs there. They were all destroyed in the explosion, weren't they?"

"- Who cares? The important thing is that they have survived and has made another crèche. There'll _always_ be another crèche!"

"There'll always be another fool," Ripley countered. "Fools seeking to make profit on them."

"- A good thing for us!"

"But not good for those used as hosts!"

"- They die for a greater cause! They die for the future!"

"Whose future?" Ripley asked her other self. "Yours… or theirs?"

The evil voice of Raksha sounded somewhat amused when she replied. "- You don't believe for a minute that the military can contain them. Only for a short while perhaps… but never indefinitely. You know that as well as I. They will be roaming free by the time we get there, if they aren't already."

"I believe they are," Ripley speculated. "I can feel them in my head, behind my eyes as clearly as I did back on the _Auriga_… I feel their rage, although it is not as prominent as one would expect. They are not trapped, they are… waiting. I can feel their anticipation. It makes my blood boil."

"- They're waiting for me…" Raksha mused. "- For _us!_ I am in as much of anticipation as they are. And it is getting stronger the closer we get – _I'm_ getting stronger! Your quest in destroying us is therefore hopeless, Ripley. You'll never win!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Ripley warned.

"- The android is listening!" Raksha then unexpectedly said. The woman turned her head sharply towards the doorway.

"What do you want, Call?" she demanded.

Knowing that she had been exposed, Call stepped into view. "I… I just wanted you to know that I have re-routed some extra auxiliary power to the number two engine block. It was functioning with a lower capacity compared to the other. I needed to balance the effects."

"Why tell me this?"

"Because… you're the captain? You should know everything that goes on aboard this ship?"

Ripley turned her head back against the viewport. "I have the outmost confidence in your capabilities, Call. I trust you to do the right thing without you informing me."

"Ripley, are you okay?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Your nose… it's bleeding."

Ripley reached to her face with her hand, drawing her fingers above her upper lip. Her fingertips became smeared with blood.

"It's been doing that a lot, lately," Ripley murmured. "But never this much." Absentmindedly, she flecked her fingers, making droplets of her bodily fluids fly.

"_No, Ripley, not on the_…" But Call's warning was too late. The blood landed on the deck and instantly began to eat the metal away. Call quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher that was hanging by the doorway and sprayed it on the spot that was dissolving, diluting the acid before it burned through the entire floor and rendering it close to harmless. Not completely, but at least as much so that the metal of the _Betty _could resist it.

"Sorry about that," Ripley said, not really sounding sorry at all. It didn't seem to bother her that her acidic blood almost had caused a hull breach. Call was greatly concerned though.

"Your blood was never that potent before! It used to take a few seconds before the material was affected!"

Ripley's reply was quite vague. "Yes… curious…" She was examining her fingers which still had a smear of the blood on the tips. Call was startled to see that there was a hint of discomfort on Ripley's face – not because of the newly recent hole in the deck – but because Call could see that the other was holding back a wincing. _Her own acid blood was burning her fingers!_

"I think we should check up on you, Ripley," Call said.

"No," Ripley said with a detached tone, still watching the sensation on her fingers. "You get back to work. I'll be fine here."

Call went without further argument as she needed a moment to process this latest event. Of all that she had just seen, she was in an android condition closest in equivalence to that of human terms; terrified. Ripley had not just gone through psychological changes in the past weeks, but physical ones as well. That made the whole situation a lot worse than Call had first feared. The woman's mental instability was no longer just a threat to her surroundings, but to herself as well.

As Call walked back towards the _Betty's _engineering room, she went through in her mind all that she knew of Ripley's physiology, her behavior, and all other facts and compared those to that which she knew of the xenomorphs. The results were alarming and potentially lethal. It was Call's programmed morality that was taking action now, the same kind of morality which had compelled her to join the original crew of the _Betty_ in order to sneak aboard the _Auriga_ to put a stop to the military's plans to destroy themselves. This could not go on!

It wasn't often Call would willingly go into the world of ones and zeros, but there were from time to time occasions when she had no alternatives. She fished out from her pocket the cords she always used when hooking up to a computer and plugged herself into the _Betty's_ mind bank. Wasting no time with the situation reports which the ship wanted her to handle, Call went into the system she required for the disobedience she was about to commit. Rewriting the preprogrammed directives the _Betty_ was acting upon, the synthetic began to carefully manipulate the secondary parameters to take primary effects and slowly setting the ship to do a new task. Thanks to her extra sensitive manufactured sensors, she detected how the _Betty_ was answering to her new commands…

"Was my trust in you misplaced, Call?!" an angry voice interrupted her. Ripley stood in the doorway, looking furious.

"Ripley, I was just…" But whatever she was going to say in her defense was a waste of effort. Ripley strode forward and ripped out the cord that connected the two machines. Call cried out as she felt how the abrupt disconnection caused a feedback in her cybernetic brain.

"God _damn_, Ripley!" Call shrilled, clutching her head. "Don't you know that you never should force-disconnect another device from a computer like that?! I didn't have time to pull out! Such sudden cut in the data-flow can corrupt the systems both in me and in…!"

"_What_ were you doing in the Navi conn?!" Ripley demanded.

"I… I wasn't…" But then Call was pushed into the wall, with the other woman's arm pressing against her throat.

"You didn't think I would notice, did you?" Ripley spat. "But if I could detect the _Auriga_ moving through space although it had a stealth-run, what made you think that I wouldn't feel the _Betty_ slowing down? You were going to _turn us around_, weren't you?"

Call didn't answer, and her silence gave the confirmation Ripley was looking for.

"_This_ was the reason I decided to stay awake instead of going into the freezers – I _expected_ a mutiny! Explain yourself, Call! Why are you looking to betray me?"

"How can you call it betrayal when I'm doing it out of _concern_ for you?" Call said, sounding almost like a child who felt being treated unfairly. "I was standing there long enough to hear you! Don't you realize what is happening to you?! Raksha is taking control – and it is affecting you in both body and soul!"

Ripley said nothing. She just stood still and listened while still holding the other by her throat.

"I've had a long time to think about this, Ripley, and to theorize how your blended physiology might affect you - and with your blood I got the confirmation I feared the most: _You're becoming like them!_ It appears that your blood is acting in symbiosis with the personality that's invading your mind – the more of the alien that gets out, the more acidic your blood becomes!

"I _heard _you say that you felt as if your blood was boiling as you felt the creatures that apparently is waiting for us on the planet, and the blood vessels in your nose is _thinner_ than throughout the rest of your body! Don't you _see?!_ Your _own blood_ is threatening to burn you up from the inside! The stronger the alien personality of you is getting, the stronger your acidic blood will become - and Raksha _is_ becoming stronger the closer we get!"

Call had let out most of her built-up 'steam' as she made an argument for her case… now as she was almost spent, she felt how her tear-canals were at work.

"I can't just stand by and let it happen, Ripley… I just can't stand by and let you _die!_ I had to try to turn us around, to try and _save_ you! I'm your friend, Ripley… you should know that this is who… _how_ I am! This is what made me come to the _Auriga_ for you over a year ago…"

Ripley actually smiled. "But you came there to _kill_ me!"

"Things have changed since then," Call replied tiredly. "Can you blame me for that? Can you blame me because I _care?!"_

"Always the asshole model, aren't you?" Ripley finally released her grip on Call. She looked her over, but finally nodded. "Fine. You couldn't help it, because you're _programmed_ to it. So I'm going to let this one slide this time. But we're _not_ changing course. We're going to LV-426, where we perhaps will find an end to all of our problems. That is the only path that is open to us. So resume course, and we won't need to speak of this again."

Call had to ask anyway. "What about Raksha?"

"Don't worry about Raksha," Ripley said over her shoulder as she went her way. "I'll deal with her when the time is right."

"But how can we be sure that she won't deal with you first?" Call thought gloomily to herself as she went to restore the original settings in the Navi conn.


	14. The forgotten survivor

On LV-426, preparations were made to receive a different approaching ship - one that Jacob McHagen had long expected. It was the latest supply-shipment from Earth, bringing in more resources in form of food and equipment, and a new stock of wine for his personal use – and most importantly: the last of the hardware materials connected to the xenomorphs that had been in Weyland's possession. McHagen should have had those with him from the start, but for reasons he couldn't fathom, the crates had been held in quarantine for a couple of months before they were finally cleared. McHagen had long thought about to write a formal complaint for being forced to have his materials being withheld by regulations that shouldn't apply to him. If the hardware would turn out to be extremely valuable, he would request compensation, maybe even sue the quarantine for hindering military research. The commander was so looking forward to this – he was convinced that with these new treasures, he would find what he needed to finally restrain the subjects that were roaming loose in the other complex, and he would get things back under control.

While he stood near the far end of the habitat complex waiting for the lander from the newly arrived ship to dock, he took the moment to catch up with his assistant Spencer on what was happening on the base generally.

"She _still_ won't eat?!" he exclaimed in disbelief. Even though he had her quarters stocked with food in the refrigerator, the girl wouldn't touch it.

"She really seems intent on starving herself to death," Spencer said with a lack of other explanation.

"All to prevent me from getting the codes! The stubbornness of that girl – it's unbelievable!" The commander shook his head. "Do we have to start to force-feed her?"

"I've got the feeling that it won't get us in any better graces with her if we did that," Spencer replied, smiling strangely. The girl's endeavors were actually kind of amusing to some of the people on the base. McHagen snorted at the thought. _How nice that somebody is having fun_, he thought sarcastically.

But McHagen soon forgot about Newt for the moment. The lander had docked, and the airlock had been pressurized – that meant that the unloading could commence. The commander had given specific orders that the hardware delivered from Wal-Mart was the first to be brought out - he wanted to look through those immediately. A soldier came through the airlock running a trolley ahead of him. On it were four crates of not-so-large sizes – one stood about a meter tall, another only about half of that. The final two were no bigger than a couple of shoeboxes. The trolley stopped before the commander.

"Where's the rest of it?" McHagen asked in irritation.

"This is it," the soldier said.

"What do you mean: 'this is it'?!" McHagen blurted out. "You mean, that's _it?!_ That's all you _have?!"_

The soldier was distraught, not understanding why he was having to take the blunt for whatever the commander had expected. He presented the manifest for the commander to see for himself. Spencer took it and began to look through the details written on it. "That's it," he confirmed. "Four parcels."

"It had better be worth my while!" McHagen snarled and began to crack open the biggest crate with a crowbar to look inside it.

"According to the details written here," Spencer said with his eyes on the manifest while McHagen worked with the box, "…the item in that crate was collected from a spaceship…"

McHagen got the top cover off and he looked inside. There was a metallic container within, one that was meant to preserve whatever you'd put in it. He began to unseal it.

"…from the USS _Sulaco_," Spencer finished reading. McHagen's face fell as he identified the contents within the metallic case.

"An empty xenomorph egg!" he croaked. "What the hell am I supposed to do with an empty _egg?!_" McHagen now looked at the other crates with a sense of dismay.

"What's in those?" he asked, indicating to the two smallest packages. The assistant Spencer helpfully read the columns in the manifest concerning those.

"One appears to be a data node that has a recorded sound sample of the warning signal that the derelict outside here transmitted and lured the _Nostromo_ to land here in 2122. There's data on the deciphering work together with the decryption key and complete translations which they…"

"And the other?" McHagen interrupted him.

"It's… a flight recorder. Plucked from a life-boat: The _Narcissus_ – an escape shuttle of the _Nostromo_…"

"Both of which are completely _worthless_ to me!" McHagen raged, slamming his hand hard on last crate. There was a muffled sound coming from within as he did that. "What was that?" he asked.

Spencer wasn't looking in the manifest at the moment – he was studying a note which was attached to the fourth crate. "It says here that to guarantee uninterrupted stasis, this should be connected to a power supply at all times." He was looking incredulously at a loose electric cord that was sticking out from the crate. "You didn't follow the instructions?" he asked the soldier who had delivered it.

The soldier stuck out his hands in an apologetic gesture. "No one told us! We were just to haul the stuff here – nothing about a specific handling!"

"Is there something alive in here?" McHagen asked curiously as he watched the forth crate with his interest piqued.

Spencer looked at the manifest again. "It doesn't say anything specific about what's in it – only that it is a stasis box with around a month's worth battery time. Whatever's in there must've… well, come to quite recently if the box hasn't been plugged in since it left Earth!"

"A live specimen of some kind!" McHagen's eyes were glittering behind his spectacles. "Perhaps something that we have never seen before! Could this be Michael Weyland's special secret?" He took the crowbar and shoved it in under the top cover of the crate.

"Sir! Do you really think we should… open it?" Spencer cautioned. "We don't know what it is! It could be dangerous!"

"I paid Malcolm Verheiden a large sum for this! I have a right to know what's in it!" The cover came loose and McHagen eagerly lifted it up to look inside the crate. What he saw made him instantly slam the lid close again. Assistant Spencer became very perplexed as he saw that his boss appeared to be in shock… he was looking straight ahead without actually looking at anything.

"I did _not_ just see what I thought I saw!" he gasped. And then McHagen carefully lifted the lid again for another look. He was looking down at a vicious face. The creature's jaw was threateningly opened, thin ropes of clear, thick drool formed between thin lips, which dripped slowly down dangerously pointed teeth. The creature was sputtering with rage, ferocious eyes were locked on the human that was intruding in its vicinity.

McHagen exploded. "_What the hell is __**this?!**__"_

Spencer approached carefully to peer inside. There was another box, a stasis container within the crate, and inside it visible through the transparent cover there was a creature he hadn't expected to see. "It's… it's a cat, Sir," he said in surprise.

"I can _see that!_" McHagen roared. "But what's it doing in there?!"

There was a dossier in the space inside between the stasis box and the crate. Spencer picked it up. The front page on the file folder read out a name: 'Jones'. The assistant began to read through the papers.

"It's the ship's cat of the _Nostromo_," he read aloud. "He was under the care of Ellen Ripley. Before she went out into space on 8 July 2179, Ellen Ripley left the cat in Stasis Pet Care for a prepaid three-month period. She never came to collect the cat after the time went out. The Weyland-Yutani Company confiscated the cat in November 2179 as it was the last creature alive who had a close-encounter with species XX121. They subjected it to tests to see if there by any chance had been any microbes from the xenomorph stuck in the cat's fur. When the results came back negative, Michael Weyland had the cat stored in long-term stasis in case there ever would be another encounter with the species. Weyland believed that the cat could be trained to act as living… 'Xenomorph detector' as it knew the scent of the species. But it was left totally forgotten by the time Michael Weyland was…"

"Michael Weyland was a deranged _fool!_" McHagen snarled. "To even _think_ that a puny feline could contribute with anything when dealing with a species as advanced as the xenomorphs! And because of his silly ideas, we have now been landed with a 200-year-old wretch on our laps – as it wasn't enough with a 200-year-old brat!"

"Well, technically, the cat is 260 years old. The _Nostromo _was destroyed in the year 2122. It's quite amazing that it is still alive being stored for so long in suspended animation. I suppose this is the reason why the shipment was stuck in quarantine for so long. There are no up-to-date veterinarian documents for him, so quarantine had no choice but to follow regulations and hold him for a while in case of…" But an angry glare from McHagen shut the assistant up.

"I for one won't abide to Weyland's stupid ideas!" the commander growled as he lifted the stasis container out of the crate. The occupant within it hissed again, knowing that the man was all the way unfriendly. It only led to McHagen disliking the cat even more. He showed the box into the arms of his assistant.

"Get rid of it!" McHagen ordered.

"Sir? You mean: get rid of… as in…?"

"What else would I mean? Just do it!" And with that, McHagen stampeded away, feeling the utter disappointment of the worthless artifacts in the crates overwhelm him. He desperately needed a drink. Spencer was left standing with the cat-box in his arms, feeling loss at what to do. Killing something wasn't his thing, even if it was only a cat. That was a job more suitable for the soldiers. To what he considered was his luck, the perfect man for the job was approaching. Major Metzger whom originally had been stationed over at the research complex was a cold bastard – you had to be when you were to sacrifice people to breed the xenomorphs. He sure wouldn't have any scruples with killing a cat.

The major had arrived with a couple of soldiers assigned to help with the unloading of the lander. "Let's get going," he commanded. "The food is going into the kitchen, and the rest of the supplies is going into the stores. That task shouldn't be too difficult for you?"

"Speaking of tasks, Major," Spencer interrupted. "This here is to be put away." The assistant shoved the box into Metzger's arms. The file folder came along with it.

"_What?_" the major objected. "What do you mean by this?"

"Exactly what I said, Major, by the orders of the Supreme Commander. Carry on." And with that, Spencer left.

"Does he think I am a pesticide agent of some sort?" Metzger grumbled, looking down with distaste at the animal in the box. He spotted a captain that was walking by.

"Captain," Metzger halted the lower officer and put the cat-box into his arms. "Put it away!"

"What? Where?" the captain asked.

"I don't care where you do it, as long as you do it!" the major waved him off and returned to his previous task.

"Some job!" the captain muttered. " I think I'll let someone else do this." He saw a lieutenant in the corridor.

"Lieutenant!" And the box was passed into another pair of arms. "Dispose of this somewhere." The captain then quickly walked his way.

"I don't have time with this," the lieutenant mumbled. "I was on my way to lunch!"

He stopped a corporal. "This is to be stashed away somewhere. You take care of it."

The corporal saluted. But in his mind, he swore bad thoughts at the officer. "Giving me all the lousy jobs! This is beneath me!"

The corporal looked around. Ah, the perfect candidate. The young runt from the _Athena_.

"Ensign Andersson," the corporal said. "You take care of this." And he put the box into the hands of Dr. Kinloch's former intern.

"What am I supposed to do with it?" Andersson objected.

"Use your imagination," the corporal said and left.

Andersson was left standing unhappy in the corridor. "I'm not taking care of a cat! I've got more important things to do!" The cat hissed at him. He was wondering what he was going to do with the wretch, when he got what he thought was a brilliant idea. He walked away towards a special door in the complex. Locking up the door, he walked in without knocking.

"I've got a present for you," Andersson called out.

"You have nothing that I could possibly want!" Newt replied sourly. She was lying flat on her stomach on the bed with her face turned towards the window, arms folded under her jaw, and her feet pointing at the door. She didn't turn around in any way to greet the soldier. It was funny, Andersson thought. For somebody who really hated everything that was connected to the xenomorphs, the kid sure had become strangely impassive about watching the derelict outside the window all day long. She didn't do much else now.

"Well, this here's yours now, whether you want it or not." He said, putting the box on a nearby table at the door. He spied the sheets of papers that had managed to follow along all the way. "His name is Jones."

Newt huffed, still not turning around on the bed. Did the military really think that they could bribe the codes out of her by giving her a doll? They were stupid if they thought that she would be so easily bought.

"From my perspective: you deserve each other," Andersson said as he quickly escaped the quarters, once more locking the door. Newt thought no more about the incident, she labeled it as an inconsequential matter in her mind. She had been more displeased of the intrusion into her privacy rather than anything else. Funny though that the soldier hadn't tried to coax her to eat again, as she knew that it was their main concern at the moment. She had been without food now for several days, and she was well aware of how it took a heavy toll on her body. But it was an effective weapon: the military had no hold on her because of her refusal to eat, and they didn't dare to do anything to her as she was considered to be too malnourished to handle any physical form of persuasion to get the codes out of her. It also helped a lot that her appetite had been completely disabled ever since they had taken her out of her frozen state.

"Miaow."

She hadn't lied to McHagen – Newt was quite used to hunger, and she knew how to control it. She hadn't had much choice in the matter but to learn it since her involuntary solitude in her colony after her people had been taken by the aliens. She had to learn how to ration, and she had to learn how to go without food for days until she deemed it safe, or at least worth the risk to go out and fetch some food packets.

Back then she had done the best she could to survive, but now she wondered if she really was trying to starve herself to death. She had gone far longer without eating than what she was used to, and it was getting harder to ignore her fatigue. But her appetite was gone, and she had no intention of giving the military any edge on her.

"Miaow."

_What is that?_ Newt rose on an arm's length up from the bed and looked behind her where that weird noise was coming from. Her eyes fastened on the box that hadn't been there before. She couldn't see clearly, but it looked like something was moving inside it.

At first she became apprehensive, thinking that the soldier had brought in a facehugger. But she quickly showed that thought away – had it been a facehugger it would already have attacked the soldiers themselves. Besides, they needed her alive. So what was in the box?

Curiosity got the better of her – she crawled off the bed and moved carefully towards the container. The sight of the creature inside made her astonished. Was that… _a cat?_ Amazed by the animal, she was no longer in full control of what she was doing. She absentmindedly unlatched the clasps that held the lid in place and opened it slightly to get a better look.

The box suddenly exploded. Not in fire and smoke, but as in the occupant inside suddenly springing out from the container with a screech and disappearing in a blur. Newt yelped as the cover of the box was knocked from her hands and she became momentarily terrified. The action was too much of a reminder of a facehugger springing out from an egg and attacking. She found herself sitting on the floor, catching her breath, and without having a parasitic monster attached to her head. Where had it gone? Newt got up again on trembling legs and slowly started to walk around the bed, keeping her eyes peeled for the runaway animal.

She found it sitting in the corner underneath the big window, fervently licking its front leg. Was it hurt? But no; it used its leg to stroke itself across the face, grooming itself. It appeared to be quite calm now. Maybe it had just wanted to get out of the box. Newt approached slightly until she knelt down beside it. The orange tom stopped its licking and looked at her as if it was studying the child closely. But the animal perceived that she was no threat, so it resumed cleaning itself.

Newt watched the whole thing with utter fascination. She had never seen a cat for real before now. The colony of Hadley's Hope never had room for pets, so she had only seen them on cartoons. And this big orange tomcat reminded her of one of her favorite cat-characters from an old classic. She imagined the furry animal before her in black boots, a black cape, and a hat, swinging a rapier. Was this her very own Puss in boots?

"Hello… Jones?" she tried. The cat didn't respond, and it did disappoint her a bit. Apparently it was only in the cartoons where cats actually spoke. But it didn't make the animal here any less interesting to her.

'You deserve each other,' the soldier who had brought the box had said. That meant that this cat was as unwanted by the military as she was. Poor thing. She stuck out her hand towards it… the cat suddenly jumped back slightly, standing in a crouched position, and eyed her warningly.

"It's okay," she said softly. "I'm not going to hurt you, it's all right." Newt sat still, without taking back her hand, but not moving closer either. The cat assessed her, and finally decided to let her in. He allowed her to scratch the back of his neck. Newt felt excitement for the success of first contact. "Hello, Jones. I'm Newt. Although… you can't call me by my name, can you?" The silent reply was the confirmation the child needed. Okay, so animals really can't talk like they can in the cartoons… but that was fine with her.

"We're much alike, you and I," she gently told the tom as she continued to stroke the furry head. "The military don't like me much either… How long were they keeping you locked in that box?"

A thought came to her. "Must've been for a long time since they obviously don't like you… have they been feeding you? You must be hungry!" Newt got up and went over to the kitchenette. It was funny: she had never expected that she would actually ever open the refrigerator after the military had filled it up. But now she needed something to feed the cat with. Within it, she spied a big pack of cold hot dogs – perfect! Newt was certain that she could feed the cat with that. She struggled a bit with the plastic package – meanwhile Jones the cat came after her, looking up at her expectantly.

The girl finally got the package open, and she pulled out a cold hot dog which she pinched between her fingers and tore a bit off by the end. She held out the piece of meat towards the animal. The cat sniffed it, but did not eat.

"What's the matter?" she asked. "Don't you like sausage?" She tried to coax the cat, but it only looked at her, as if daring her that it really was an okay piece of meat to consume.

"It is edible," she told the cat. "It's good. Look." Just to prove the point, she put the little piece of cold hot dog in her mouth. Afterwards she was looking at the rest of the sausage in her hand incredulously, as she realized what she had just done. Before she could stop herself, she gulped down the rest of it. Newt then took another hot dog from the package and repeated the first process. This time Jones ate it. And there she was, dividing the entire package of cold hot dogs between herself and the animal. Newt had a funny insight.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" she said semi-accusingly as she fed the cat another piece before she ate another. It was somewhat typical: it took a creature more innocent than herself to finally get her to eat - and that made him truly her own Puss in boots. This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

Author's notes: I wasn't sure if I really was going to go through with bringing Jones into the picture out of the blue. I'm sure it might feel a bit farfetched... but the fate of the cat has always been a loose end in the franchise - we never got to know what had happened to it. The closest explanation we got was presented in the novel of Alien3 written by Alan Dean Foster where he had it mentioned in passing: '_The cat was gone now. No more cat-nightmares for him,_' and no more than that. But that is one thing I chose to ignore, as it is quite unlikely. Ripley intended to come back for him after her little return-trip to LV-426 in Aliens after saying: '_You're staying here_' - so I'll consider that part from the novel of Alien3 to be part of Ripley's delusions. As it is, I need Jones for a task in future chapters, so I hope you'll forgive this little strange development.


	15. The 'warm' welcome

Two weeks passed without incidents. Even though the child had finally begun to eat, albeit she never ate that much, the military didn't do that many more attempts to get the codes from her. They simply didn't have the time. McHagen had the Pentagon's bureaucratic accountants breathing down his neck, and he and his staff had to do everything they could to keep them at bay.

The loose aliens still roamed the research complex, but did no attempts to leave it to get to the live meat that occupied the habitat complex. It was strange, but the people in the other complex took every small miracle they could get, not thinking any closer to what the reason for the xenos' staying put over there could be.

Yet there was a kind of tension going on in the complex on the surface of LV-426 - things had been a little bit too quiet for too long. The soldiers and supporting personnel alike wouldn't say it out loud, but they had a kind of foreboding that things were soon about to get rough, as if they were currently living through the calm before the storm.

They were more right than they knew, because just a couple of hundred miles outside of LV-426's polluted atmosphere, the _Betty_ finally arrived. The pirate ship was on a steady approach vector, making it clear to anybody who might be tracking the old vessel what its destination was.

The crew of the _Betty_ were out of the cryo-tubes and on their feet since a few hours back. The men (Ripley wasn't around) had eaten a meal that had consisted of a breakfast that wouldn't be highly recommended in favor for the metabolism this close after a period of hibernation, especially since they swallowed it down together with Johner's special brew. But in the minds of the pirates, considering that they were after all lawless men, why should they give a damn about such trivialities? Call had only shaken her head at the way of life they lived by and had left them to their obnoxious diet.

It was after they had finished their meal that Call called the crew together, save for their captain, and she had told them of the incidents that had occurred during the time they had slept.

"Then it's just like what we feared," Naavek Felger pointed out. "She's gone mad!"

"Are we at risk now?" Keevan Felger asked in worry.

"As long as we don't try to undermine her decision to go down there, I believe we are safe," Call calmed them down. Johner wasn't entirely convinced though.

"And then what?" he almost barked. "What will she do once we're down there? From what you've told us, Annalee, this dark-side personality of hers seem to cloud her judgement! What if she really decides to join up with those buggers? What will become of us then? Will we be superfluous?"

"I… I'm afraid that I have no idea," Call had to confess. "She seems to be stable for now, but… I can't tell what will happen once we're down there. I can only pray that she still has enough self-control to not turn on us and continue with her original plans."

The pirates didn't feel very secure right now. "And what if she does turn?" Johner challenged the synthetic. "What will we do then?"

Call remained determined. "The best we can do is to stay close to her, and make sure that she doesn't do something that can be considered immoral. It's when she feels that somebody is getting in her way that she gets her tantrums. Our job is therefore to keep her path clear of any obstacles."

"And what obstacles would those be?" Keevan asked.

"According to the information I've managed to dig up, there's a military installation down there. They will do everything they can to stop Ripley."

"Are you saying that our assignments are to be her _bullet-stoppers?!"_ Naavek exclaimed. "Are you really saying, like: we have to get hurt so that _she_ doesn't hurt _them?!_"

"I didn't exactly say _that_…!" Call began in defense.

"But you did!" Keevan said. "That's exactly what you said!"

"We've been drafted into a _suicide_ mission!" his brother blurted out.

Call was desperate to calm things down. "Look, it's not what you think… we weren't planning on going down there with our guns blazing. What I am asking of you is that I need you to act as a form of guard detail so that no one gets too close to Ripley that she'll feel threatened. I want to approach with caution down there and not act provocative…"

"Oh, just like what we used to do before, right, Annalee?" Johner said sarcastically. "What makes you think that the military will just let us waltz in on them, huh?"

Call had to play out her final card. "Considering our experiences on the _Auriga_, I think it is safe to assume that the xenomorphs have broken free by now. I expect that the military will be in quite a disarray and at loss how to handle things. They will have no choice but to listen to us."

"You mean we are going to make them think that we have come to save their asses?" Naavek said.

"Well… that's one way to put it." Call admitted.

"What makes you so sure that they will listen?" Keevan asked.

"Ripley _is_ the living foremost expert on the xenomorphs."

"I don't know…" Johner said. "If those buggers really are running loose… I don't like the idea of facing them again. We really should leave the soldiers to clean up their own mess – why should we care?"

"We're already here," Call pointed out. "There's no way Ripley will just leave without finishing what she's set out to do."

"Then we'll _leave_ her here!" the member of the _Betty_ that nobody liked suddenly spoke up. Zack Ryan stepped forward. "If she's so keen on taking on those things, then let her. We'll drop her off and then be on our own. Why should we take part of her stupid quest anymore?"

"You're the _last_ to have a say in this matter!" Call snapped.

"Actually, Annalee… for once he's raising a good point."

"_What?_ Johner, you can't be _serious_…?!"

"I am! I'm always serious when it comes to my own neck! I've _had _it with this! I was fine with it while it all was to prevent the damn critters from coming to existence again, but if they are already here: then _no_ way! I won't put up my ass against those one more time! Let Ripley chase down her little demons all she like now that she's here, but we're bailing!"

"We're with you, Johner," the twins said. "We don't know anything about those creatures you've met, but it is enough for us that we don't like the idea of putting up with the military."

"Those monsters of hers are probably just a figment of her own imagination, anyway," Ryan snorted. He had never believed in the aliens.

"I… I can't let you do this!" Call almost shouted.

"Then you two bitches can stay here together!" Ryan said, feeling smug as he for once had the majority of the crew on his side. He was planning to make good use of the situation.

"That's right, Annalee," Johner said. "The matter is settled, and you're going to have to make a choice! Either you go or you stay! Either way: we're leaving after we dropped our 'captain' off!"

"You… you can't just maroon Ripley here?!"

"She can hike back to civilization with the military bozos – unless she doesn't kill them first!"

Call felt panic overwhelm her. (How can an android feel panic? It was however the best descriptions used as her electronic pulses rushed around wires and circuit-boards in her body, as her logic-chips clashed with her sense for morality which battled each other. Her processors were going into an overdrive.) There was no way she could just abandon Ripley, and neither did she want the crew of the Betty to disband – especially not in the manner of betrayal! But she had no idea how she could convince the men to reconsider – they had made up their minds.

Call had no time to make argument for the case; Ripley came out from the back of the ship, heading for the cockpit.

"Are you conducting evil plots, gentlemen?" she asked casually. The men became tense. Was their captain suspecting something?

"We… we were just discussing on how to proceed once we're on the ground," Call said. She didn't want to make Ripley aware of the men's mutiny just yet – not when they were about to make an intrusion into restricted military space. They all needed their wits without distractions at this delicate time.

"Good," Ripley said. "Then man your stations. We're about to make a landing." And with that she headed to take the sticks.

Johner leaned closer to Call. "Don't transmit a word about this to her, Annalee," he whispered menacingly. "Your ticket for a ride off the rock below us is only valid through your silence."

Call did not acknowledge the man whom she right now despised more than ever. She only went after their captain to take her place at the co-pilot's seat. She would keep quiet now during the preparations for reentry, but on the ground it would be a different matter.

* * *

Jacob McHagen came into the habitat complex's communications center, looking deeply annoyed. But that was no big difference from how the supreme commander had acted for the past weeks, so there was no way for the technician to know if his boss was irritated for having been disturbed or if he was just commonly angry as he always were these days.

"What's the big 'emergency' now?" McHagen asked sourly.

"Sir," the technician said. "Unidentified vessel is coming in from vector two-ten in quadrant four on an unscheduled approach! I have not managed to make contact as they approach in radio silence!"

"Life signs?" McHagen asked.

"Around five-six people, Sir. There's definitely someone aboard."

The commander cooked an eyebrow. "So, not military, and obviously not a registered civilian. Hence, it is a group of people who prefer to remain incognito, which concludes to what answer, trooper?"

"Outlaws, Sir," the tech responded.

"Or in this case: pirates! And this one _was_ expected: that troublesome creation of ours has finally arrived!"

The tech wasn't sure what McHagen was talking about, so he went on with the question which would be best proper to ask in a case like this: "How do you wish to proceed, Sir?"

"She should have known better than to come here!" McHagen snarled. "Blast them out of the sky!"

* * *

Although the two complexes were two separate structures standing on either side of the derelict, they weren't completely isolated from each other. There was a landline connected between them, a lead-lined segmented and flexible umbilical conduit that trailed like a snake over the rough terrain which enclosed and protected high-voltage- and communication cables from the winds and from the radiation. While separated, the two complexes could still communicate with each other.

That was necessary now, as the main antenna was positioned at the tallest peak of the research tower that was under alien control. By orders of Jacob McHagen, the comtech officer was going to establish contact with the transport cruiser that was still in orbit above Acheron, waiting patiently for a new task. As it was a military vessel, it was armed, and that was going to be the main instrument for dealing with the intruders.

Unbeknownst to the commanders in the habitat complex, the data-exchange did not go unnoticed. In the bowels of the research tower that had come to the planet as a space-traveling rocket, there were reinforced compartments near the engines that were necessary to protect from the heat, and which was now adequate to serve as a safehouse for people still residing within the complex, hiding from the roaming xenomorphs. Since those survivors had been written off as dead, and because the staff of commanders had sent them out there to die in the first place, they hadn't bothered to make their presence known to McHagen's people again. They were however monitoring all communications that passed between the two structures via the hard-wire link.

"What have we got?" the man who had assumed the role as a leader asked the person at the terminal that was hooked into the wires.

"An incoming unidentified space craft," the other answered. "Whoever they are, they're not on the commander's list of friends. There're signals coming through directed towards the cruiser in orbit. I believe that they are going to shoot the newcomers down!"

The leader considered this. "I can't help but to think of the old saying: 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. Can you stop the attack?"

"Without the de-encryption codes: no! We can monitor and identify the type of signals we're receiving, but we cannot countermand them in any way! We need a qualified comtech for that. I'm sorry, but I'm no hacker! There's nothing I can do!"

The leader sighed. "Then heaven help those up there."

* * *

Sitting in the pilot's chair, Ripley brought the bulk of the _Betty_ close to the small world with a practiced hand. She felt a weird tingling of anxiety as she watched the planet fill up the entire windshield: maybe it was because this marked the third time she had come here. She couldn't make up her mind if it was because of nostalgia or apprehension. Most likely it was the latter: this world had after all brought her nothing but pain.

"Approaching orbital apogee," Ripley said, not letting her current state of mind reveal anything through her voice. She spoke as cold and impassive as always. "Rolling to match equatorial orbit, starboard yaw."

"There's no chatter on any line," Call said from the co-pilot's seat, hoping that her voice wasn't trembling. The synthetic knew that she was quite tense, as she knew about the upcoming mutiny. But she couldn't reveal the crew's plan to Ripley just yet.

"It's weird," Call continued. "They should have seen us by now and demanded identification. That cruiser lying in synchronized orbit over there would have picked us up on its sensors and transmitted the data down there. Maybe I should contact them myself…?"

"No," Ripley said. "If the fact is that they haven't spotted us yet, then I don't want to reveal our position. We'll stay on course…"

"But if _they_ have spotted us…?" Call insisted.

"Then they should still be making up their minds on whom we might be," Ripley said. "And they don't dare take action in thinking that we're civilian. They don't take out non-military targets on a whim."

"That's true." Call was feeling a bit calmer now. "They do have regulations to follow…"

But the cruiser behind them had indeed spotted them and was right now receiving and processing orders from the ground that was an answer to the _Betty's_ intrusion. A hatch in the outer hull slid away to reveal a missile rack that was automatically tracking the pirate ship. The first missile got a lock and it went into 'armed'-mode…

Unbeknownst to the danger, Ripley continued to steer the ship down through the upper atmosphere…

"Vertical descent commencing," Ripley said to no one in particular. Only she and Call were in the cockpit – the men were back in the dining area, probably downing more of Johner's lethal brew.

The cockpit was positioned on the underside of the _Betty's_ bulk, so Call had a pretty good view beneath her on the condition of the planet that they were about to enter.

"Looks pretty nasty down there."

"There's a constant storm raging all over the planet," Ripley explained. "Be prepared for quite some harsh turbulence…"

Just then the _Betty_ jumped so violently in space with such force that the women would have been thrown out of their seats had they not been buckled up. The lights went out momentarily, the boards all went red and alarms blared.

"If that was just a taste of 'harsh' turbulence up here, then I don't want to experience the harder turbulence we might encounter further down!" Call gasped.

"That was no turbulence!" Ripley exclaimed. "Something hit us!"

"What the fuck was _that?!"_ Johner came in, screaming.

"We got fire in the aft-section!" Call reported wide-eyed as she checked the boards. "Structural integrity has been compromised and many circuits have been severed. We even got a hull-breach! It's like we've been _shot_ at!"

"We were!" Ripley confirmed. "That cruiser behind us has locked in on us! They're attacking!"

"Are they _mad?_" Call blurted out in disbelief. "No military would risk his career by attacking a civilian target without at least giving us a warning in advance! That's unconstitutional!"

"Well, somebody forgot to tell _them_ that!" Johner raged – but Call could hear in his voice that he was extremely worried. The man had a point though: somebody _should_ tell them.

"Mayday, mayday!" Call shouted into the mouthpiece of the radio. "Calling military establishment down on LV-426 – Abort! Abort! We come with no hostile intentions! We're seriously damaged!"

"Good call, Call, but…" Ripley's voice was laced with pity. "…it's a bit tad too late. Hang on!"

The _Betty_ rocked violently again as another missile hit them.

"Starboard thruster pod has been hit!" Call reported almost hysterically. "The engine's out!"

Zack Ryan now stumbled in. "You damn _bitches!_ Who taught you how to fly?! Women behind the wheel always spell for disaster…!"

"Shut up!" Call spat back. "This is not our doing!"

The _Betty_ was badly damaged and was losing altitude faster than it had been originally planned.

"Disengage your attack!" Call screamed into the radio again. "Repeat: disengage your attack…"

"Save it, Call, they're not likely to listen!" Ripley cast at her while fighting with the sticks. It was extremely difficult to uphold a steady descent with only the port side engine still functioning.

"What are we going to do?"

"They're not going to cease their attack until they've wiped us out! I'm going to make some evasive maneuvers to prevent them from getting another missile lock on us! Hopefully I should get down far enough to let the ramjet intake substitute our disabled thrusters!" The Betty was a hybrid: besides the propulsion engines for spaceflight, it had a massive turbine on top for air-cruising.

"And if that doesn't work?" Johner was frightened out of his wits now.

"Then you had better man the escape pod and get out while you still can!" Ripley replied nonchalantly.

Johner looked perplexed even though he for the moment was scared. "Just us? And what are _you_ going to do?"

"I'm going to do my best to save the ship. In case I can't, I doubt you'd like to go down with it, so get going – _Now!_ That's an _order!_"

"Good luck, 'Captain'," Johner said and bolted, the rest of the men following close behind.

"You too, Call."

"No Ripley, you're going to…"

"Don't argue with me!" she said sternly while working with the controls. "I don't need the distraction, so _get!_"

Clenching her jaws, Call unbuckled herself and rushed after the men to the aft section where the escape pod was located.

The bay-compartment of the _Betty_ was now filled with acrid smoke from electrical fires that had been caused by the impacts from the missiles, and that would not clear out as the ventilations had gone out of order. The men coughed from the lack of oxygen as the air sipped out through the fissures in the hull and their eyes watered from the noxious fumes, making it hard to see. It was only thanks to their familiarity with the layout of the ship that they could find the escape pod through the thick mist.

"Hurry!" Johner called to the men behind him. "We must get out!"

"Wait!" It was strangely enough Zack Ryan who was expressing hesitation. "What about my things?!"

"Your things?" Johner exclaimed in disbelief. "You're concerned for the stuff you've stolen?! Well, if you want to go and collect them, you go ahead! But we're leaving the second we board the pod!"

"You had better make up your mind quick, Ryan," Call said. "…or you'll be travelling down together with the ship! There is only _one_ pod!" It was impossible to make out through the smoke if Ryan was grimacing, but he realized that he had to make priorities if he wanted to survive. The crew dived into the pod…

"Make sure that you buckle up," Call told the men from the outside. She had not yet got into the pod. "This is going to be a rough ride! And remember that the atmosphere is radioactive – the hatch cannot be opened in danger of contamination upon touchdown!"

"What?!" The Felger twins looked shocked. "Then what are we going to do on the ground? Are we going to be stuck in the pod?!"

"Standard protocol for the military would be to intercept any survivors," Call explained.

"Is that wise?" the other twin asked. "The military are the ones who are trying to kill us now!"

The _Betty_ was really starting to shake now. "It's either to get arrested by the military or stay onboard this ship! Which do you prefer?"

"We'll take our chances on the ground!" Johner decided.

"Good luck, everyone," Call said as she closed the hatch, without getting in.

"Hey? Aren't you…? Johner began to say before the escape pod jettisoned, leaving them to tumble down towards the surface of LV-426 in one direction while the _Betty_ continued on its own, with flames licking its hull.

* * *

In the command center of the habitat complex, the personnel were watching the whole development via the radar.

"A module just separated from the ship," the tech reported. "It's making a controlled descent, so it is not debris. It has to be an escape pod!"

"Calculate its trajectory and scramble a retrieval team," McHagen ordered. "Those survivors are going to answer for their crimes!"

"What about the main ship, Sir?" the tech asked.

"Is there still someone aboard?"

"I believe so. It's still working to maintain a steady course. I doubt an autopilot is enough advanced to make such compensational moves flying through the winds with that much damage. There must still be a human by the sticks!"

"Then my order stands!" McHagen said. "Destroy it!"

"It's getting out of range for the orbiting cruiser, Sir!"

"But not out of _our_ range! The _Athena's_ got armaments as well! Intercept them with some of _her_ missiles!"

* * *

Ripley was still wrestling with the sticks to hold the _Betty_ steady while she plummeted through the storm-winds of Acheron. She believed she was still able to save the ship, as long as nothing else failed. But it was an extremely hard task, doing so with only one supporting engine, and with the winds slamming into her side.

Call came back, resuming her place in the co-pilot's seat. "The men have all made it out in the pod!" she said as she strapped herself back in. Ripley looked at her in surprise.

"_Why_ are you still here?!" she almost barked. "I told you to leave with the others!"

"Ripley, you'll _never_ be able to land the _Betty_ in one piece without my help!" Call shot back as she began to plug herself into the computer brain using her cords. "You handle the rudder, I'll make sure to re-route the electronic signals passed the damaged sections to provide auxiliary power to our shields and other critical systems."

Ripley wasn't ready to admit that restoration of the supporting systems would help a great deal as it would vindicate Call's decision to remain. She was still miffed that the synthetic hadn't gotten out like she was told to.

"Can we use the ramjet intake to substitute our main propulsion drive yet?" Call asked as she established contact with the _Betty's_ computer.

"That was my initial thought," Ripley grumbled. "…but I made a serious lapse of judgement! I had forgotten how dirty this atmosphere was; so filled with dust and rock particles! They've already clogged our external air intakes, causing overheating. If I activate the main turbines now, the dust will rupture the fans and in worst case: start another fire! We have more than our share of flames already, so I can't take that chance!"

Call nodded in understanding. "Then we have to make do with what we have."

Ripley looked over at the synthetic again. "I seem to have made a lapse of judgement about you as well…"

"Me? Why?"

"I was so sure you were going to join in on the mutiny…"

"You… you _heard?_"

"Of course I did. My hearing is as enhanced as my other senses thanks to the blending. There aren't many secrets going on onboard this ship of which I am not aware."

"How… were you planning to respond?"

"I haven't had the opportunity to think that far ahead yet."

"Yet I am glad," Call said. Ripley looked at her curiously for clarification. "They planned a mutiny, yet your human side was in control rather than allowing Raksha to tamper your judgement. In the midst of danger, you thought of their safety! You made them man the escape pod to get them out of danger… That proves that there's still a part of you that's human." Call smiled.

"Actually, I only had them jettisoned because I wanted to lighten the load," Ripley confessed. "To me they were dead weight I needed to lose."

Call's smile vanished.

"Let's see if it was enough," Ripley continued while wrestling the stick. "Let's land this crate."

"Right," Call said. "I'm in the _Betty's_ systems now. Let me check our external sensors and see if there's any… _Oh no!_"

"What?"

"There's another missile hot on our tail, this one coming from the ground! It's closing fast!"

"Distance?" Ripley demanded.

"Too close for evasive maneuvers! And… there's a _second_ coming right after it! It's going to hit!"

"Ah, _crap!_"

The lead missile slammed into the port thruster pod this time, thus having both of the _Betty's_ engines disabled. The ship now spun out of control with fire spreading all over the hull. The _Betty_ was falling towards the ground like a meteorite with no hope of resuming control. And there was still one more missile after them…

* * *

The klaxon was heard all over the habitat complex, with a voice booming from the speakers.

"_All troopers man your stations! Scramble emergency vehicles for incoming craft. This is not a drill! Repeat: this is not a drill! Scramble teams: assemble at the Athena's ATV ports!_"

Newt lay on her side on the bed, stroking Jones the cat who lied curled up against her stomach when the alarm blared. The child and the feline had become close friends during the time they had been locked inside the quarters as they didn't have company of anybody else. Jones didn't care much for the emergency going on – he was perfectly content being cuddled with at the moment, purring loudly. Nothing else bothered him.

Newt understood though that something out of the ordinary was going on. To the cat's displeasure, she got up from the bed and walked up the window. She was quite used to the sight of the U-shaped derelict now, so it didn't bother her anymore. She also knew that the emergency the soldiers scrambled upon did not concern the aliens. This was no attack from them, so she took the risk of making her presence become visible behind the glass. Peering up against the dark sky, she tried to make out any moving obstacles. The PA-voice had stated that the emergency was due to an incoming craft, so she strained to see if she could catch a glimpse of it.

She did. It was hard to miss. Although it was too far out to make out a shape, the flying craft was glowing as it was on fire – a lightning bee trailing over the sky.

No matter how illogical it was, she could feel it in her gut, knowing exactly how this was of a special significance to her:

Ripley had arrived.

She would never be able to explain it, but Newt knew that Ripley was aboard that ship – she just didn't know how she felt about it: was it time for rejoicing or apprehension?

And would it even matter? Newt could make out how something small, but fast caught up with the blazing ship from behind and released another cascade of flames as they connected. The burning ship now dropped out of the sky, falling down behind the high cliffs that stretched up in the air and which surrounded them. Newt could almost feel the 'thump' vibrating through the ground as the burning bulk disappeared out of sight, and she knew that she wouldn't be seeing it again.

Newt sat down on the bed, wondering what this would have for consequences, wondering if Ripley had survived that assault – as well as wondering again if she should feel rejoice or apprehension or even sorrow for whatever the outcome was.

* * *

The _Betty_ would never fly again.

As if it hadn't been enough with the missiles taking out the thruster pods, the fourth and final hit had ruptured the fuel-tanks, allowing the fire to ignite all the combustible substances. The explosion had thrown the ship out of its trajectory, making it drop to the ground like a burning rock. The _Betty_ was nothing more but an unsalvageable heap of scrap now.

From an outsider's point a view, it seemed highly unlikely that somebody would have survived such an impact the ship had fared through, but Ellen Ripley didn't fit in to the category of being an ordinary somebody.

She did hurt. She did in fact hurt a lot – but to her it was only but a nuisance. Her regeneration capabilities acquired from her blending with the alien species would deal with any wounds she suffered – many of her cuts and bruises were in fact already half-way healed. She was more irritated with the fact that she was stuck! A thick steel beam lay across her abdomen, pinning her to the deck. Even more annoying was that the beam in turn was weighed down on one end by heavy rubble of what had once been the _Betty's_ environmental control console, and the other end was wedged inside a bulkhead that had shifted out of place upon impact on the ground. Lifting her aching arms, she put both hands on the beam and attempted to push it way. But either didn't she have the necessary leverage, or the beam was simply too fixated between the scrap for it to budge.

"Call?" she called out, thinking that with the android's help, they would with joined forces be able to move the beam. There was however no answer from the synthetic. Looking around, Ripley found no trace of her. Ripley wasn't even certain where exactly she was herself – her surroundings were made of such irregularly shaped scrap that it was impossible to resemble this having formerly been the _Betty's_ cockpit.

_All right, let's deal with the matter at hand._ It would require a cutting torch to free her from this beam, but that was something she didn't have. _Why would I need one?_

Stretching out her hand towards a torn piece of metal, she scraped her palm against the sharp edge, cutting up a wound in her skin and allowing her blood to flow. She now held the open wound above the beam and allowed her life-fluids to drip down on the surface. There was an immediate reaction as her blood's acidic properties began to dissolve the metal, eating away the material like if you poured hot water on a lump of sugar.

It took a while, but soon the blood had eaten through the entire beam. The end farthest away from her that had come loose crashed to the deck with a resonating clang while the rest of it laying over her abdomen didn't feel so hard pressing anymore. Using her hands again, she managed to push the beam off her legs this time, and she was free.

Standing on her feet, she assessed what damage she had received. Some were severe, but nothing that her own body couldn't handle. Given only a little time, she would soon be back at her prime condition. There were some advantages with her alien physiology.

Now for the other matters at hand: where was Call? Ripley called out her name again but got no reply. She worked her way through the rubble to get back to the pilot seats and make a backtrack from there.

She found that most of the front section of the cockpit had been pressed together from bottom to top by the crash, all the steering controls and chairs flattened and crushed. It was a miracle that she herself had been knocked clear, or she would have been nothing but pulp underneath all that.

But her co-pilot hadn't been that lucky. Ripley saw a puddle of white that was streaming along what used to be the wall down on the floor – the source of the android liquid being concealed by a twisted plate. Ripley went up and wrenched the plate away, and underneath it was Call. She was pinned against the wall by more debris, lying like a ragdoll, and leaking like a punctured oil-drum. Ragged pieces of metal had pierced entirely through her torso.

"Call?" Ripley touched the other's face, turning it to make eye-contact. The synthetic's eyelids flickered. She was still functioning.

"Ripley…" Her voice sounded distorted, mechanical… just like Ash's voice had sounded like after he'd been exposed. Funny that Ripley would remember that.

"Ripley… my legs hurt!" Now where had Ripley heard _that_ before?

"Hang on, Call… I'm going to get you out of here." She started to work on the debris which lay heavily against the android.

"Oh…" Call said as she glanced down. "It's worse than I thought…" Aside from the protruding pieces of metal sticking out from her chest, there were many tears in her artificial skin which exposed the confusing tangle of synthorganic wiring and fibers – most of them having been severed, that's why she was leaking so badly. The rest of her lower body wasn't even visible, as it was wedged within the squashed consoles of the Betty's helm instruments, having crushed her completely.

"It's just some bended struts, or whatever you're made of," Ripley said casually as she dug around the heavy piece of machinery to clear some space so that she would be able to shift it. "I'll get you to a workshop, and then you'll be as good as new."

"You're wasting your time, Ripley…"

"You could save me some time if you helped me to dig you out of there. You still got your arms free."

"I meant: don't bother… you can't save me…"

"Stop being so pessimistic!" Ripley snapped as she wrenched free a coil.

"Ripley… look at me… please."

The woman sighed and straightened up. She could see now that Call's face displayed an expression of resignation.

"My body is broken, Ripley… I am fading…" Although distorted and mechanical, the other could hear the tone of passivity, as if she was at peace with what was happening. "I'm losing my memory…"

Ripley understood now that this was serious. "I'm shutting you down, until…" she started, but Call's intensive stare interrupted her.

"There's… nothing… you can do. There's nothing… that can… what's the word?"

Ripley only stood still, watching. What Call didn't know was that Ripley wasn't immobile because of a sense of helplessness – it was because Ripley was confused about her lack of emotions at all. Shouldn't she feel something? Her friend… her only friend… was dying! And she felt nothing!

Call now bore her gaze onto Ripley, and her calm expression changed into one of a plead.

"Ripley…! Don't… don't let _her_ take you over! You're stronger than that…! You're… stronger than… than… what was her name again?"

Ripley realized then that she was still holding on to the coil she'd just dug out in her hands. She looked at it for a moment in bewilderment before she threw it away, wondering if she should bother to clear out any more debris. She looked back at Call…

The synthetic had become completely still. She hadn't slumped – it was like she had simply frozen. A small trickle of white fluid streamed down from the corner of her mouth and the white of her eyes became gloomy, like as if a light behind them had gone out.

"Call?" Ripley said as an afterthought, although she knew that in all sense of reality, Call had ceased functioning, or to use a human description: she was dead.

Ripley stood waiting, expecting to be overwhelmed by a feeling of loss: anguish, sorrow… anything that was to be a natural reaction to mourn the loss of a close friend. But there was nothing forthcoming… only confusion. Desperate to attract some form of reaction from her core, she folded her arms stiffly around the inert body and hugged it to her.

"I shall avenge you!" she vowed with a hoarse whisper.

Finally a reaction came, but it was nowhere related to grief. What she instead felt was anger – anger with the military! It was the _military_ that had shot them down. It was because of the military action that a member of Ripley's personal community had been taken away from her, together with her hive. They had no right to take away something that was _hers!_ This theft called for a retribution! They would _pay_ for destroying her possessions!

Ripley was hardly aware of that this emotional outburst did not at all originate from her human side – this was how a xenomorph would see the whole matter! They would not stop to grieve for a lost member of their tribe – a lost drone was indifferent to them. But they would feel rage that somebody had interfered with their business by doing that, and they would set out to deal with that threat. And that was what Ripley was going to do now!

Stepping out of the wreckage of the _Betty_, she glanced across the terrain, focusing above the ridges of the cliffs until she spied the dim light from the complexes where the military resided, and where the aliens would be found. It would take some hours to get there by foot, but her rage would fuel her strength and resolve – she would do what needed to be done!

In the back of her mind she was aware that she was at this moment standing in a toxic radioactive atmosphere without any form of protection gear – but she did not need any. The xenomorph species could adapt to any environment possible, even one such as this. And her physiology was part xenomorph! She was with that stronger than the average human! She would survive! And with that knowledge, she set out towards the military installations to finish the job she had since her rebirth set out to do.


	16. Ripley rampage

The four surviving men from the _Betty_ had their hands shackled behind their backs, and they were now thrown to the floor before Jacob McHagen. They all groaned as their knees were slammed onto the hard metal surface.

"Well, you pirates, you gave us a good run for our money," McHagen said strangely merrily as he looked down on the captured men.

"_Your_ money?" Johner growled.

The supreme commander paced slowly back and forth before the prisoners. They were on his floor of office at the top of the short tower of the habitat complex. It had been several hours after the _Betty_ had been shot down. The emergency response team had gone out with the _Athena's_ 'ambulances' as they were equipped to handle retrievals in hazard environments, located the escape pod in which the four passengers were trapped as they could not go out into the radioactive atmosphere, and there the intruders had been extracted and arrested. After a quick physical check-up, they had been brought before McHagen who wanted to conduct the interrogation personally.

"I almost had a fit when I received the report from General Perez on the conditions of payment your former captain Frank Elgyn had demanded," McHagen said. "Not only was it such an absurd amount of cash – I almost had you marked for termination upon completion of the job because of that – but to have it paid in used thousand-dollar bills…" McHagen scowled, shaking his head.

"Atleast our part of the job were more honest than yours!" Johner shot back. The commander chuckled at that.

"Snatching a couple of cryotubes filled with hibernating people for money is something you call 'honest'?" the commander questioned. "You're nothing but a common thief, aren't you?"

It was extremely rare for somebody like Johner to feel ashamed, but right now he was. "Had I known what you were going to use 'em suckers for, I would never have _taken_ the bloody job! I may be as common as they come, but I ain't nothin' compared to you lot! I may be a smuggler… and I steal, I kill, I assault, and I don't give a damn about it as long as I get something out of it! I ain't got scruples for the things I do, as long as I find having a fair motivation for doing so! But you? You steal people's lives to use 'em like cattle in an unsanctioned experiment to create something unnatural and hideous that shouldn't be part of this world! I'm an immoral man, but even _I_ have a line drawn somewhere! Fuck, I only joined up with Ripley's crazy stunt because I didn't like the idea that some of you assholes might try to create _more_ of those things! It was bad enough that I lost some of my best buddies to those ugly bugs – I don't want any of them come chewing on me…!

McHagen chuckled again. "And then you come _here? _Right where I indeed _am_ creating more of the bugs you hate so much? Not a very thorough thinking, was it?"

"Didn't expect Ripley to go bonkers the way she did…" Johner muttered. "…or I wouldn't have."

"Well, Ripley is no longer any problem," McHagen said, sounding pleased. "Since she's not here with you, I deduce that she was still on the ship when it was finished off, thereby Dr. Wren's error by letting her live has been corrected."

This time it was Johner who laughed. "Dude, if you think you're safe, you're gravely mistaken! You really think a little crash will stop her? We've been living with that woman for over a year, and I promise you: there's _no_ stopping her! Woe the one who tries! Ripley won't give up for anything until she gets what she after, and her next prey, Mr. McHagen, is _you!_ You had better run and hide, because it wouldn't surprise me if she was right outside this building this very moment!"

* * *

Johner was quite right in his assumption, because right outside in this very moment, Ripley had arrived at the complex. She looked like somebody who worked in a coal-mine: she had grime and dirt all over her body, an effect of the polluted winds that carried millions of billions of particles of rock-dust which had attached to her skin. But Ripley did not care for how she looked at the moment, she was beyond that – her immediate thoughts dominating her mind right now were how she was to get inside the building.

She ignored the ship to her left that was docked to the side of the rows of modules… she didn't even reflect that it looked like one of those humanitarian ships she saw a model of at the Seiyu Group's office in Tokyo. She also ignored the crashed U-shaped derelict to her right, even though it should be one of her main 'targets' in her quest to wipe out the xenomorphs… but it was a dead piece of machine – she would deal with it later!

At the base of the center module of the complex there was a large gate – that would be her point of entry! Walking up to the entrance, she was not surprised to see that it didn't react to her presence in any way – she would have to force it to let her in. There was a control panel on the side - she fiddled a little with the buttons… but when she got no reaction from the gate, she ripped the panel off to get to the circuitry inside, where she twisted some exposed wires around each other. Finally the gate rolled open like a garage door and she slipped inside before some back-up circuitry registered the malfunction and began to close the door again - but by then, Ripley was already inside.

She figured that this indeed was a kind of a garage. There were tire-tracks on the floor, and the chamber was certainly big enough to accommodate a large vehicle. It was empty though for the moment, and then she noticed that the tracks were disappearing beneath the opposite wall farthest in. Another door. She was inside a lock. Ripley stepped forward to work a way to open the next gate – that's when a small, but not a fierce siren began to sound, and the lock was suddenly alight with some red rotating warning lights. An intruder alert? Just then she saw a sign on the wall ahead of her light up, and a text that read: DECONTAMINATION COMMENCING!

_Decontami…?_

From the roof, several taps from a kind of sprinkler system opened up and began to spray the area with high-pressurized, very hot water-like liquid. It was an automatic system that was to clean entering vehicles every time those had been outside in the radioactive environment, and Ripley had inadvertently activated its cycle when she'd come in through the front door. The Geiger-meter sensors within the lock wasn't smart enough to distinguish a woman from a transport, but they did detect the radioactive particles stuck on her hide, so she became the target for the rinsing fluid. As an effect from the boiling hot geysers, the enclosed space was quickly filled with steam, rendering the visibility to zero.

Finally the sensors became satisfied with the registered safe levels of radiation, and the taps on the roof ceased their spraying. Fans activated and began to clear out the steam.

DECONTAMINATION COMPLETED!

In the middle of the floor of the garage, Ripley stood like as if dumbfounded. She was totally drenched, and her skin was scalded. But she was clean now, both from grime and from radioactive molecules – and she was very fretful for this involuntary shower.

_That was the last straw!_

As the computer was only programmed to follow the procedures of the lock, it opened the inner gate to allow the woman entrance, oblivious to the fact that Ripley was not a vehicle and to the fact that she was about to wreak havoc within the complex. Her arrival had not gone unnoticed.

When the central computer detected that the front gate had opened, it had sent a signal to the observers on duty. Since their one and only bus which was used to transport materials and personnel between the two stations was already parked within the complex, they knew that this was an unauthorized entry, and the soldiers had scrambled. A whole pluton now stood in the inner garage with weapons raised, waiting for the intruder to show. They were surprised by the fact that it was a lone woman coming in, with no kind of vehicle. How had she withstood the decontamination cycle? It was designed to clean the bus - a human with no protection on her body would be too fragile to handle the process. Major Metzger, who was leading the response team on scene caught himself out of his stupor and barked at the woman:

"Get down on the floor, facedown!"

Ripley only looked with distain at the soldiers wavering their weapons at her. _Men and their guns!_ she thought. But mostly was she annoyed with how people would keep get standing in her way!

"I've got an advice for you of my own," she snarled in reply. "Get out of my way or get hurt! You have the only warning I intend to give!"

Major Metzger had at first been prepared to give the woman another chance to comply to his demand, but after that statement he decided to skip it and went directly to use lethal force.

"Okay, gun her down!" he ordered his men.

The soldiers let loose with everything they had – but so did Ripley. Just like she'd done when attacking the Wal-Mart offices, she tapped into the alien reflexes that was part of her physical make-up and, although how impossible it was, sidestepped the bullets before those hit the marks. An ordinary human would never have been able to do what Ripley did. A human could watch the positions of the rifles, register, and anticipate the path of the projectile, but would never be able to avoid it.

A xenomorph on the other hand possessed the speed and agility to quickly move out of a bullet's path, but they didn't have the imagination to do so. As they were driven by pure bloodlust and rage, they'd only charge and remain oblivious of their vulnerability to guns until they were shot to pieces. By their own, none of the two species would have the necessary traits to avoid a meeting with a bullet with their name on it, but as Ripley was an amalgam of the two, she did possess them both, and she used the combination to anticipate and duck out of the projectile's way while she moved ahead towards her aggressors.

The soldiers didn't stand a chance. The woman moved so fast that they were unable to follow her with the muzzles of their guns, and by the time they got a new fix on her location it was too late. The first soldier received a fist to his jaw that was as hard as steel, and he dropped. Ripley relieved the soldier of his rifle as he fell, and she put it so use – not firing, but using it as a club. Swinging it in an arch from floor to the air, she knocked another weapon out of the hands of the next soldier in line, making it fly out of his reach. Before he had time to recover from his initial shock, Ripley's foot flew up, connecting her sole to his cheek.

By now the other soldiers had adjusted their aims, pinpointing her. She crouched to duck under the first stray of ballistics that flew past above her head, and then she charged. Rushing low, she slammed her body into the stomach of the soldier closest to her, blowing the wind out of his lungs. But Ripley didn't settle with that: using the momentum she carried, she picked the soldier up, holding his body before her and used his frame as a battering ram to plow through the rest of the troopers in her path, sending them into disarray as they either scrambled out of the way or was knocked down. Ripley skidded to a halt, but the soldier she'd used for her purpose was sent flying the rest of the way as she did nothing to stop his motion – she only shoved him along and away from her. He came to a stop as he slammed into a doorpost and he was out of it. Ripley didn't spare him a single glance – she only retraced her steps to deal with the soldiers whom were now attempting to get back in line. Two of them she simply smacked their heads together, the next one she delivered an uppercut, and another she grabbed and shoved him hard into the side of the bus parked there. Now there were four left: the major and three grunts.

One of the latter ones attempted to rush her, holding the butt of his weapon poised against her to knock it into the dome of her skull. Ripley simply ducked, picking the soldier up as he was about crash into her and she heaved him over her head using her inhuman strength, thus making him fly right into one of the other grunts who stood a bit away. Ripley had in the process of heaving the body grabbed his rifle and kept it with her before she'd thrown him away, and with that she repeated an action she had done at the Wal-Mart complex on Earth some months ago: she threw the rifle as a spear and had the butt-end slam into the face of the last standing grunt, knocking him out. Now there was only the major left.

Astonished, Major Metzger tried in a futile attempt to shoot the intruder down himself with his pistol, but she was on him in an instant. With a simple sweep of her hand, the small gun was knocked out of his. And then she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him close so that their faces were only about an inch from each other. Because of the unbelievable feat the woman had just done to his men, Metzger didn't know how he was to retaliate to this, so he was still while the woman's eyes bore into his. What was she going to do to him? But whatever it would be, he wouldn't give her the satisfaction by showing her any fear. Then the corners of Ripley' mouth curled upwards, breaking into a grim smile.

"Don't say that I didn't warn you," she purred. Then she kicked upwards, knee to groin. Metzger's eyes bulged, and his jaw trembled. By the time Ripley simply let go of him, his eyes were watering as he dropped to the floor. The woman turned his back to him, leaving him bawling loudly on the ground with his hands clenched between his thighs. Ripley felt a mixture of both satisfaction and disappointment rush over her – the latter feeling coming from Raksha. Ripley hadn't killed any of the soldiers. But that may yet still happen, as her main quarry was still unaccounted for. She longed to get her hands on him and make him pay for Call's death. The thought of the synthetic's demise made her angry all over again.

Ripley went for the exit of the garage, a double-door set. Here she made use of her imagination again, or simply deduced what should be standard procedure where the army was concerned. As the doors parted and she walked through, she flung out with her arms to her sides, hands clenched into fists, and knocked out the two guards she expected to be posted outside standing ready to apprehend her. She neither stopped or looked side to side as she did this… she had caught the guards in her peripherical view, and again she didn't bother to look back as she went ahead after neutralizing them. It was the next set of doors ahead she had her attention settled on now: the elevator. From what she had seen on the outside before she'd entered the complex, the row of segments that made this base were all single floor, except for the middle module. This lone elevator would be the one gaining access to the top floor of the short tower where she knew she would find the commander of this operation. _The C.E.O.s __**always**__ claimed the top floor_.

* * *

Jacob McHagen was indeed on the top floor, but he saw fit to take shelter within his office when he'd learned of the ongoing attack. His office was just like the conference room on the level below him made of clean, beautiful glass which walled him in. Through them he could see everything that was happening outside, but no one was going to get to him. The glass was impenetrable, so he felt relatively safe.

The same couldn't be said for the two soldiers who stood outside the glass office, standing ready to receive the intruder. McHagen had followed the events in the garage through the security cameras, so he knew that the intruder was coming up to them in the elevator – and it were the two soldiers' duty to handle the reception while he remained in cover. The grunts didn't find this to be fair at all, but said nothing about it. It wouldn't have made any difference.

The pirate prisoners were still there as well, lined up and chained to the wall so that they wouldn't try anything. They seemed more content with the situation, because it was their accomplice, their captain who was coming, and in that sense they had nothing to fear for their own safety.

The elevator signaled the arrival of the car, and the soldiers stood prepared, weapons set and ready. The doors barely parted before the two grunts opened fire – but they were just blasting empty air. The elevator car appeared to be empty at first glance, but as the soldiers ceased their firing and moved in to take a closer look, a humanoid form swept down from the roof, swinging down from the upper doorframe by her arms and connected her feet to each of the troopers. As the soldiers staggered from the impact, the passenger from the elevator landed on the floor and straightened up, and then she grabbed on to one of the men and hurled him into the wall, knocking him unconscious. Although dazed from the kick, the other marine was about to re-open fire - but before he managed to do so, a fist as hard as a rock slammed into his face, sending him to the land of dreams as well. Ripley, still driven by her rage, now directed her gaze to the other end of the area, seeking her main prey.

"'Bout time you got here, Ripley," Johner commented. "How about getting us out of these binds?"

But Ripley wasn't paying the slightest attention to the rest of the _Betty's _crew. She simply walked past them, not sparing them a single glance.

"What the fuck's matter with her now?" Keevan muttered.

Totally ignoring her crew, Ripley walked up to the cage of glass where the main man resided within.

"Welcome, Miss Ripley," McHagen's radio-distorted voice was heard in the room. He had to speak through a communicator as the thick glass was soundproof. "You know, usually I don't see anyone without an appointment, but in your case I'll make an exception."

Ripley didn't acknowledge him. Instead she simply walked up to the glass wall and threw her fist against it. There was a loud hollow bang as her hand connected, but it had no other effect than that. The glass held.

"Now that won't do you any good," McHagen said smugly. "It's the same type of 'glass' that held the creatures in their pens aboard the _Auriga_ – specially designed, steel-strong, clear plastic. But I take it that you know all about that, don't you?"

Ripley was angered by that self-assured smile McHagen displayed. She threw her fist onto the 'glass' again – she groaned, more of displeasure than of pain. Still, the window wouldn't crack.

"Well, if you want to break every bone in your hand, be my guest," McHagen said leaning back in his chair, pressing his fingertips to each other. "But if you're willing to cease these futile attempts to break in here, maybe we could talk? You didn't come all this way just for the fun of it, did you? You have business here."

Ripley began to slowly walk around the outline of the clear wall, fixing her eyes on the man inside the office. "You have something that belongs to me," she said icily.

"Ah, yes… I know all about your quest for the left-over remains of the aliens that Michael Weyland left behind."

"You misunderstand me," Ripley said as she was retracing her steps back, dragging her fingertip pads along the clear panes. "I was referring to your _miserable_ life!"

McHagen almost laughed. "You seek my life? Just what justifies you to murder me?"

"You killed a friend of mine," Ripley replied. "I do _not_ take that lightly!"

"Ah, shit," Johner muttered as he understood what had happened.

"With Call gone, who's going to calm her down now?" Naavek asked his companions although he already knew the answer. No one had the power to deal with Ripley's anger issues from here on.

"You were trespassing!" McHagen spat at the woman. "Your friend's blood is on your hands, not mine!"

"But it's yours I want as compensation for hers," she said, smiling wickedly. In her mind she could hear Raksha's voice speaking to her. - _Kill him! Kill him!_

"Don't count on it!" McHagen snarled. "Don't forget that you owe _me_, and not the other way around! It is because of _me_ that you're alive! It was _I_ who sanctioned the project to resurrect you!"

"You will find that that was a big mistake!" Ripley replied menacingly. She was walking forth again along the office, but this time she was raking her nails along the surface instead of the soft fingertips. Her nails were like steel, like the claws of a xenomorph. The scraping sound was like a screech.

"Stop doing that!" Johner demanded as his ears hurt. But the woman paid him no mind.

"You're a mistake, all right," McHagen scowled. "You were never meant for keepers!"

Ripley paced back again, still raking her nails on the glass and making screeching noise.

"Really, woman… don't you have anything better to do?"

Ripley flashed him a non-pleasant smile through the clear plastic. "Do you feel safe behind there, McHagen?" She drew her claw-like fingertips over the surface much slower and harder this time, emitting a sound like when you scraped a cray on a blackboard. The crew of the _Betty_ winced.

"If you seek to intimidate me by doing that, you fail!" McHagen growled. "You will find that I'm a hard man to break!"

"And break you I shall, once I get my hands on you."

The man scoffed at the woman's futile promise. "This glass is impenetrable."

"Would you bet your life on it?" Ripley asked cryptically, continuing to rake her nails over the smooth surface.

"Dammit, you slut, stop making that noise!" Ryan barked behind her.

"I've served aboard spaceships," Ripley informed the man behind the glass, smiling knowingly. "I know a thing or two about the clear materials that keeps the pressure stable within the hull - and you should know that nothing is completely impervious. You can't make the basic material as sturdy and transparent as this without sacrificing some of the original durability." The raking did not cease as she continued to speak. "The atomic structure holding it together always produces a weak-point somewhere - the harmonic vibrations of my nails help me to locate that certain spot… and what do you know? _There _it is!"

Ripley made one final rake with her steel-like fingertips over the spot she had discovered, producing a high-pitched noise that made everybody's nerves stand on edge. "_God damn it, Ripley!"_ Johner cried out.

The screech had the desired effect, though. McHagen couldn't believe his eyes has he saw that the 'tune' had caused a hairline crack in the clear steel-strong plastic. Ripley smiled as she put her hand above the damage.

"The thing about these transparent dura-screens…" Ripley explained as she began to put pressure on the spot which showed the crack. "They're only good with withstanding different stresses that is directly proportional to the amount of kinetic strain being used while the pane is whole. One little rupture and the whole thing becomes significantly brittle…"

As Ripley continued to push with her hand against the cracked spot, the rupture spread further along the window as she flexed the pane, diminishing the durability even more. McHagen watched the whole process in shock – this was _impossible!_ But his eyes showed him exactly what was happening, and he could not deny that his private little safehouse had just been compromised. He needed to implement new security measures. He switched off the communications line to the outside of his office and changed the frequency, speaking on a private channel. "Bors, bring the girl to my office! _Now!_"

Ripley could not hear him, and she was unaware that he could no longer hear her. She continued to speak, as if nothing had changed. "Now as your shield has become severely weakened, all it takes is one impetuous little impact…" As she did before, she pulled back her fist, setting her strike. This time her punch destroyed the window, shattering the whole pane of formerly steel-strong, clear plastic – the pieces rained down like it had been ordinary glass all over the inside of McHagen's office. The man within slammed his finger down on the emergency button. "_Security! Code red in my office! I repeat: Code red…"_ He didn't get further than that. The woman strode in and walked straight up to his desk where she reached over and grabbed on to the military man by his collar, pulling him roughly out of the chair. McHagen was hanging on face-to-face level to his adversary from her hands and he could see straight into her eyes. They were dark and cold as ice, filled with rage and resentment, giving no hint that this could be settled with a reasonable discussion. Heaven help him, the woman was a wild beast!

"Time to pay the check," the woman growled in his face.

"Hey, _wait…_" McHagen began before Ripley hurled the man against the window behind her. The strain Ripley had caused by breaking through the first pane had compromised the structural durability of the one next to it as well, that's why it broke like a regular window as the body was hurled through it. He landed in a heap among shards of 'glass' in the middle of the floor outside. Ripley walked out after him.

"Hey, wait a minute…" McHagen sputtered as he tried to get up. "_Wait a minute!_ Y-you can't do this, I'm a powerful man…!" Ripley grabbed on to him and pulled him up from the floor. "I'm a _protected man!_ I've got _protection…!"_

"Not from me you do!" Ripley retorted before she threw him again against another window.

"_What is this __**shit?!**__"_ McHagen just had time to cry out before he crashed through another pane of 'glass', finding himself back in his office. He was in a world of pain, but still he could feel rather than see the woman coming back for him. He felt fear coursing through him, a feeling he wasn't used to.

"God dammit," he gasped, spitting out a gob of blood. His face was now filled with cuts and bruises and his suit was torn in many places. He tried to crawl away while continuing to ramble his words. "L-listen to me! _Listen to me!_ I got someone here… s-someone you care about!" The first word in his next sentence became inarticulate as he was grabbed by his neck and pulled up to his feet. _"…r life will be forfeited if you do me harm!"_

Ripley turned him around to let him see her face. It was completely devoid of all emotions, save for the cravings for retribution and lust for pain. She answered without any kind of care. "Kill them. They mean nothing."

"Well, thanks a _lot_, Ripley!" Johner growled in response.

McHagen's voice turned to panic. "I'm not talking about _them!"_ he screamed as he was thrown through yet another window. He ended up next to the tied up surviving pirates from the _Betty_. "Don't you get it? Ya' damn wench!" he rasped with a quivering voice, spitting more blood. It was by pure adrenalin that he managed to get up on his feet, stumbling, attempting to keep the distance from the unreasonable woman. "I'm talking about _Rebecca Jorden! __**Rebecca Jorden!**__"_

The pirates all looked up to Ripley, to see what it was McHagen was talking about. But the woman was not giving any hint of recognition to the name, or even an acknowledgement to his plead. They could all see that Ripley had gone beyond that point: she had fallen too deep, the rage of the alien part of her physiology was the dominating force at play. No matter what the desperate man was trying to say, Ripley wasn't listening anymore. Even if Call had still been alive, they highly doubted that even she could talk sense into her now.

"I have her here!" McHagen cried in despair as he staggered away from his attacker. "She's still alive!" But it was in vain. All that Ripley felt right now was a hunger - a hunger for blood. She watched this pathetic little man, drinking in his fear and allowing it to fuel her bloodlust. Her darkened eyes radiated with a bestial anticipation, lusting for her prey. The human side of her had been pushed back; it was Raksha's thoughts that was flowing though her mind. - _Yes! Kill! Kill him! _they repeatedly said.

Johner realized that this was exactly what Call had warned them about. If Ripley became a murderer, then the xenomorphic side would completely overwhelm her, and she would be lost forever.

Jacob McHagen didn't know what was at stake, but he knew that he was in serious peril. In his attempt to get away, he backed into a wall where the woman easily caught up with him. Grabbing him by his throat, she pressed him up onto the vertical surface and poised her other hand with the intent to smear his head over the wall. That was when the elevator doors opened again and somebody stepped out, but with difficulty.

"Sorry Sir, but she's extremely feisty," a soldier said. "She refused to come along willingly…" But then he stopped talking as he took in the mess the floor revealed. In his silence another sound was heard, a sound of a temperate groan that was in a struggle.

"Get her in here!" McHagen wheezed under Ripley's grip while clawing on her arm with his hands. "Just get her _in here!"_ The newly arrived soldier stepped out of the elevator, revealing that he had another smaller form in a tight grip in his hands, holding the other by her wrists. The non-cooperative form was fidgeting, kicking, and biting.

"There! There!" McHagen gasped under the chokehold, pointing fervently. "It's Rebecca Jorden! You see?"

The reply that came from the side was filled with anger. "I keep telling you, my name is _Newt!"_

It wasn't the new commotion coming from the elevator that attracted Ripley's attention, neither was it McHagen's urge for her to focus on the new arrivals. It wasn't even the name.

It was the voice. Although it was agitated, it sounded just like the voice that had been with her from her rebirth, the voice she used to always listen to, even above the one belonging to Raksha. But it had been months she had last heard it though after it had diminished when Raksha's essence became more prominent and more seducing, so she found it curious as to why she would hear the other voice now, and this time outside of her head instead of inside. Before she killed the man, she would spare just a half-a second glance to identify the source, but it would be no more than that. She turned her head slightly…

The scene that caught her eyes was enough to make them become so wide that her eyeballs would have fallen out of their sockets had they not been attached within her head. She went into instant shock. In just one second she forgot all about her bloodlust, her quest for the alien species – just about everything around her except for what she saw. Her jaw dropped towards her chest as she took in that which should be completely impossible.

_Her __**child?!**__ Her __**young?!**_

_Here?! __**Alive?!**_


	17. The storm

Everything suddenly went completely still on the floor. Nobody moved. Johner couldn't figure Ripley out – why was she just standing there? What was the deal with that little kid that got her so stunned?

The unexpected development that had made Ripley go into stupor changed the tide of the whole situation. Bors had not travelled alone with Newt on the elevator. From behind him another marine stepped out, carrying not a ballistic rifle, but a stunner set to full charge. The second marine didn't bother to try to talk the woman into relinquishing her grip on their commander – he just squeezed the trigger, slamming an electrical charge into her mass which sent her body hurtling away.

It wasn't the first time Ripley had received a charge like that – she'd experienced it on her first days aboard the _Auriga_, just when she'd had that irresistible lust to choke the life out of Dr. Wren. The full charge would've killed an ordinary human, but just like the first time, Ripley endured it. Had circumstances been different, Ripley would get back up and take revenge on the grunt who had the utter gall to shoot her – but as she looked up, her eyes once again fastened on the little girl, and again she completely forgot everything else, save for the small lifeform in front of her. It was incomprehensible – it was impossible! The child – a child that wasn't hers… _**Yes, mine!**_ …was _dead!_ Her body cremated in the furnace on Fiorina 161! There was _no way_ for her to be here! Yet there she was. How can that be?!

The marine who had shot her didn't waste any time. He went up behind the woman and cuffed her hands behind her back. She did nothing to resist. Her fellow pirates all groaned as they understood that there would be no possible means for escape now.

Jacob McHagen stumbled back towards the ruins of his office, trying to conceal to his men that he was in great agony after having been thrown through the panes of glass repeatedly. Never had he expected that he would have a need for the first-aid kit that was in the corner. He picked up a white towel, dabbed it with sterilization alcohol from the first-aid kit and then he began to clean his face from blood and tiny shards of clear plastic. He would not feel the same about glass after this. While the commander did this, more soldiers arrived to the floor via the stairwell, having answered to the call of emergency a little late as they had tended to the wounded in the garage. McHagen's assistant Spencer was one of them, along with Dr. Kinloch's former intern Andersson.

After having put on a makeshift bandage over the worst cuts and holding the towel that was now colored red to the rest of his face, he stepped back out, radiating a fury that would match Ripley's own. He glared at the prisoners before him.

"All right," he growled menacingly. "You've had your fun – but I promise you, this will cost you _dearly!_" He strode up to the grunt with the stunner and grabbed it, not asking for it. The he walked up to Ripley who stood on her knees, doing nothing. McHagen put the muzzle of the weapon against her temple – the woman didn't even wince, nor looking at him. Her eyes were solely fixed on the girl.

"I've got an enormous lust to shoot you right now!" McHagen spat at the woman. "Do you hear me?! Nothing would please me more right now than to _kill _you! Will you plead for mercy? _Answer me, dammit!_" Ripley didn't. She didn't acknowledge him in any way and that enraged him even more.

But no matter how much he wanted to – and by damn, it was hard not to – he couldn't put her to death just yet. Instead he turned his head to the object of Ripley's attention… the girl still stood held in place by Bors, her wrists restrained by the soldier's bigger hands. The child looked back in contempt, but if it was for McHagen, or for Ripley, perhaps for them both, it was impossible to say.

"See how infatuated she is with you, Rebecca?" the commander taunted. The other pouted for the constant use of the wrong name. "It makes me wonder how you feel about it? What's her life worth to you?"

Newt said nothing, but her blue eyes darted back and forth between the two people. She bit her lower lip, as if trying to come up with a decision.

"Her fate is what's on bargain here," McHagen continued. "…and you know what my price is! All I want is the little bit of information that you have, and you can make all the difference! What say you to that, Rebecca?"

"Drop dead," she replied almost in a whisper.

"_What?!"_

"You can't bribe me."

"Don't you understand what's at _stake_ here?!" he growled, showing the muzzle of the weapon against the woman one more time as to show the child what his intentions were. "I'll _kill_ her!"

"She's _already_ dead to me," the child said, looking away. "You don't understand, do you? I don't _want_ to see her! She betrayed me… abandoned me… a-and… hurt me! I thought she loved me… but she cut up my chest… It'd be better if she didn't come back!"

Ripley looked ready to cry, as if her world had just gone devastated. McHagen looked ready to explode. The commander threw away the stunner and strode up to stand before the child. A guard took position behind the woman to watch her. McHagen had reached his limit.

"The codes!" he demanded in the young one's face with a trembling voice.

"No!" Newt said determinately.

He exploded. Grabbing on to her collar, he screamed into her face. "_Give me the codes, damn you! Give me the…_"

Newt's arms may have been caught, but her feet weren't. She kicked him on the shin of his leg. McHagen screamed, but for a different reason this time. He held on to his lower leg as he jumped around on his other. The troopers refrained from laughing, even though they desperately wanted to. The pirates had no such restrictions.

"You know, I kind of _like_ her!" Johner said, giggling, and that was saying much. Johner wasn't known for liking anybody.

"You ungrateful little _wench!_" McHagen roared, holding on to his aching shin. "I made the effort to pull you out of your icy tomb and this is how you repay me?! Have you got no feeling for debts?!"

"_Depts?_" Newt snapped angrily. "You think I should feel _indebted_ to you for dragging me back out into this? Back into the world of monsters that I hate?! Back into the world of loneliness with no friends and no family?! You think I should feel gratitude that you pulled me out of the fridge? You know what, McHagen? I'd much rather be _put back_ in that fridge! At least there I wouldn't have to put up with the likes of _you!_"

"I might actually start _consider_ it!" McHagen snarled. And then he looked up at Bors. "Get her out of my sight!" The soldier complied, dragging the child back into the elevator. Newt threw a fast glance back at Ripley – the woman looked totally defeated. The adult's eyes followed her, filled with both confusion and remorse. As soon as the elevator doors closed, Ripley's eyes fell down to the floor… the strength and determination she had come to the place with had totally gone out of her.

Now when the child was gone, McHagen walked up to the woman… and then he slugged her hard in the face, giving payback for what she'd done to him. She hardly flinched, but she didn't retaliate either. It was like she almost even didn't notice the punch, and that made the commander even more annoyed.

"I want this _witch_ locked up with the tightest security we got!" he spat at his troopers. "In our most secured brig! And triple-post it with guards!"

"Our strongest holding cells are over at the other complex…" Spencer stupidly said as some other soldiers picked the woman up and started to lead her away.

"Well, thank you for pointing out the obvious!" McHagen scowled. "Naturally I meant that we'd have to make do with what we got over here! But since we're on the topic…" He looked over at the captive pirates. "Have this lot prepared to go over at the other complex! They can attempt to buy their freedom by herding our loose specimens back into their pens!"

"Are you _crazy?_" That objection didn't come from the prisoners, but from the stairwell where McHagen's staff just emerged. The troublesome Colonel Hayes, the one with the irritating conscience was in the lead. "I thought we agreed that we _wouldn't _send more people out there!"

"And where the _hell_ have you been?" McHagen raged. "You've been covering under your beds while you allowed that… that _woman_ to wreak havoc in here! Take a look at my _face!_ She was trying to _kill_ me!"

"It's the soldiers' duty to deal with any intruders…" General Berger-Hauser said in defense while he wheezed. His over-sized body mass wasn't up with climbing stairs.

"And one hell of good job they did!" McHagen snorted sarcastically while he held the bloodied towel to his face. "Now get somebody to mop up in here… and call for some medical assistance while you're at it!"

"Wait, we're not _done!_" Colonel Hayes protested. "We wouldn't send any more people over! We were in agreement!"

"We agreed that we wouldn't send any more of our _troopers_ over," McHagen said. "But those are not our troopers, are they? They're pirates that no one will miss! They came here for the species, so let them have them."

"They'll fail like everybody else did!" Hayes insisted. "And it will make even more of them! Without the codes, we won't be…"

"Don't speak to me about the codes!" McHagen roared. "That girl is totally whacked-up – she absolutely refuses to give them up! Not even by having the woman she used to care about threatened to be shot would she surrender! She's totally _deranged_…!"

McHagen looked over at the rest of the personnel present, mostly at the ones who didn't take part in herding the prisoners away.

"Andersson!" McHagen called the young green shirt whom had betrayed his tutor over. "You've had weeks now to go over the disc thoroughly! Tell me you've made some progress at cracking the encryption! Have you managed to find any correlating codewords?"

The young soldier stammered. "I… I… I…"

"Speak out, soldier!" McHagen commanded. Andersson broke down in tears.

"I'm sorry, Sir!" he whimpered.

"No progress, then?" McHagen questioned, irritated over the young ensign's lack of emotional discipline.

"I can't _find_ it!"

"Well, try _harder_ in finding the right words, then!"

"I mean… I can't find the _disc!_"

"_What?!"_

"I was thinking that it had been misplaced… that Dr. Kinloch had perhaps hidden it… but I can't find…"

"Wait a minute!" McHagen interrupted. "It's been close to _two months_ since I sent Dr. Kinloch over to the other complex and when I assigned you to continue working with the disc as I needed my experts for other matters! Are you telling me that the disc has been _missing_ since then and you didn't tell me?!"

"She… Adrienne must've… brought it with her…"

"_Why didn't you tell me?!"_ McHagen all but roared.

Andersson was openly crying now. "I… didn't dare…" he whimpered.

McHagen was fuming. "You didn't _dare?!_ By concealing that information, you've wasted two months of resources on _nothing!_ That is a court-martial offence, you moron!" Andersson continued to cry. McHagen was disgusted. "You whiny crybaby! You're a _disgrace_ to your uniform! It was your responsibility to crack that disc, and it will be your responsibility to make up for the time spent!" He turned to his assistant Spencer. "If Dr Kinloch really brought that disc with her, then this lowlife is to be sent over to the other complex to _retrieve_ it! Have him go along with the next bus!"

"NO! _NOOOOOOOOOOOO!_" Andersson wailed in panic.

"_Wait!_" Colonel Hayes protested. "It will mean the death for him! He's one of our soldiers, and we agreed not to…"

"One more peep out of you and I'll send you over there as well!" McHagen roared. "Take him away!"

The last of the soldiers dragged the sobbing Andersson out, while Colonel Hayes watched them go with somber eyes.

* * *

The four male members of the _Betty_ were pushed along into the garage, their hands still cuffed behind their backs so that they wouldn't attempt to fight their way out of it. The bus stood ready, with the cheeky driver behind the wheel. "This 'ere's no bus, it's a bloody meat-wagon," he commented nonchalantly as two marines shoved the pirates onboard.

"Get your fucking hands off me!" Johner growled at the soldier as he stumbled to a seat. "And how 'bout releasing my hands while you're at it?"

"We're not removing any cuffs until we've arrived at the other complex," the grunt told him firmly. "So sit down and shut up!"

"I'll remember you," Johner hissed.

"I doubt I need to feel worried," the other shot back.

The other marine let out a sigh. "For crying out loud, man, pull yourself _together!_" He was referring to the fifth passenger who was now stepping aboard. Andersson was dressed in full battle-gear, but he was well aware that it was nowhere sufficient protection against the mortal peril which resided at the other complex. Death surely awaited them, since none of the previous teams that had gone over had been heard from again. He was sobbing loudly.

"I'm gonna die… I'm gonna die…" he whined.

"Yeah… life's a piece of shit, ain't it?" the driver said, not overly concerned. Why would he, since he wouldn't be staying over there.

The bus departed and went out in the hazardous wastelands, heading for the other complex. The passengers were grim-looking, and for good reasons.

"How do you expect us to get a job done without weapons?" Keevan Felger asked sourly. The marines had rifles with live ammo, which they were using to keep tabs on the prisoners – the pirates had nothing.

"There's expected to be plenty of stunner rifles left behind from the previous teams," the soldier replied. "You just need to locate them."

"No worries, then," Naavek snorted sarcastically.

"How about letting us raise a toast for our success?" Johner asked. "I could really use a drink right now."

"Do you see a refrigerator or a bar in here?" the other marine countered.

Johner nodded his head towards his waist. "Got my own brew with me," he said, indicating to his silver thermos hanging from his belt. "My own recipe, _way_ deadlier than anything else. Would you like a taste?" Johner grinned at his captors. The marines however didn't move.

"Speaking of brew," the driver said. "…looks like there's a big ugly storm brewing right now. What a fucked-up planet, there's always winds out here. What were those stupid colonists thinking, putting up a settlement here on this world all those years ago? What did they get out of it?"

* * *

The sole survivor of the now-ancient colony was lying on her stomach in the bed of her quarters/cell, taking notice of the weather herself. She was quite familiar with the storms of LV-426, knowing how those frequently roamed all over the entire planet, carrying with them the dust and other rock-based particles which always would find their way in into the complex of Hadley's Hope, no matter how much you tried to insulate the frames and the ventilation intakes. Newt recalled what a wasted effort it was with her mother attempting to keep a clean household – the dirt would always find its way in anyway, although some of the time it was because she and her brother had inadvertently brought them in after their little ventures in the airducts when they and all other children were playing 'Monster Maze'.

Yes, Newt knew all about the storms. She was after all born on this planet – she had grown up with them. In fact, there was one particular storm she was waiting for – one which unknowingly to McHagen and his band of soldiers had been part of her plan from the start.

Twice a year it came: the big one. The big bad mama. The storm that would make the other winds look like small breezes in comparison. The mother of a blow-out. The nemesis to all electrical power. Newt remembered it quite well – it didn't matter how much you tried to insulate the cords, there would always be a burn-out somewhere or a circuit broken. No matter what you did, the mother of the storms would always cause a blackout. And it was safe to assume that McHagen had no idea what was going to come.

Newt recognized the signs… it was time. It was coming! She couldn't help but to wonder if that bus she had seen through the window leave for the other complex would reach its destination in time? You should never be outside when the big storm hit, as it was strong enough to pick up the vehicle. Back in her days in the colony you'd just had to sit inside and wait it out in the dark, hunched together around a portable heater.

But in case the bus did make it to the other complex, it was tough luck for those riding in it. It wouldn't be able to come back before the storm hit with full force… and over there, _they_ waited! McHagen didn't know it, but he had just lost his bus.

* * *

The bus did reach the other complex, but the driver was all nervous for the conditions outside. The winds had really picked up and had been close to overturn the rig. How was he to go back safely? He sure could not stay here to wait it out, who knew what could happen during that time?

The two marines who were unaware of the driver's concerns went on with their own business: shoving the pirate prisoners off the bus. One of the grunts held the unwilling 'volunteers' at gunpoint while the other released them from their cuffs.

"Stand over there, clear of the bus!" the soldier with the rifle ordered. "Keep your distance, or you'll get a face full of caps!" Grimacing, the pirates complied.

"Now you just keep your positions, 'til we cleared the area," the soldier continued. "Once we're gone, you're free to roam the area for the weapons you need. Remember, we're not coming back until we get the signal that the subjects are back in their pens. Only then will you get your freedom!"

"Is that a promise?" one of the twins asked.

"Depends on you!" the grunt shot back while he backtracked his way to the bus, not averting his eyes from the criminals.

"No promises then," the other twin concluded.

"Make a job well done, and you'll just might get lucky!"

"I highly doubt that," Johner snarled. "…if we are to haul this crybaby with us!" He was indicating to Ensign Andersson who had not stopped crying.

"He might just prove to be a valuable asset," the grunt said as he climbed aboard the bus. "…as soon as he remembers that he's _supposed_ to be a soldier!"

"No worries then," Johner muttered as he drank from his thermos which he had removed from his belt now when his hands were free.

The doors closed, and bus was turned around on the revolving platform it stood on to allow it to leave, leaving behind the four pirates and one unhappy soldier. But as soon as the bus faced the inner gate and the photocell was about to clear the vehicle for passage into the dock, everything went black. Literally! All lights, and all that was driven by electrical power went out – the only source of illumination came from the headlights of the bus.

"What the hell's going on?!" a soldier within the bus swore. "What happened to the lights? Why isn't the door opening?"

The driver gave no answer, but he had a hunch. Even within the thick lead lined confinements of his vehicle, he could still hear the new thunder going on outside. A massive storm was over them, and it must've broken a circuit, cutting all the power! They were trapped in there!

"We must get back!" the other soldier said, starting to sound nervous. "It's dangerous over here!"

"It's dangerous out there too!" the driver pointed out, no longer feeling so cheeky.

"I rather take my chances out there than in here!" the first grunt threw back. "We have to try to open the gate manually."

"How can we if there's no power…?" the other objected.

"We'll feed some to the gate from the bus through jumper cables," the first suggested.

"That won't work!" the driver pointed out. "It wasn't meant to be be connected between the machanics like that!"

"We won't know until we tried, will we?" the first grunt persisted. "Just get to it! I don't wish to be here!"

The other soldier got out, feeling tremendously unhappy. He wasn't any happier about the circumstances than the others, but he didn't like how he had to get out and rig the cables instead of one of his companions. He didn't know the true nature of the 'subjects', but since none of the previous teams had returned, he figured he didn't want to face any of them. And now when it was so pitch dark, he felt even more unsafe. He quickly uncoiled the cables to set them up.

He didn't get very far though, as a muzzle of a gun suddenly pressed into his skin just under his chin. In the glow from the headlights, he could make out the lead pirate's ugly grinning face. How could he have forgotten about the prisoners? And how was he, or anyone else for that matter to know that Johner was carrying a hidden weapon concealed within his thermos which he in secrecy of the dark had pulled and then snuck up behind the unsuspecting marine. The marine could feel how his live-loaded rifle was confiscated by another behind him.

"So, soldier boy," Johner teased with an ugly grin. "No worries, then?"

* * *

With the powerful storm raging over the crash-site of the U-shaped derelict, it didn't take long for the habitat complex to lose all its power as well. In an instant, Newt's quarters/cell fell into darkness, and she knew that the whole base was suffering the blackout. She could see it in the reflection of the window.

The girl had been fully aware that she was watched by the camera in the wall, and the images were sent to a communications center. Those watching the video images had believed that she had spent her time solely by watching the derelict wreckage despite the fact that she hated the ship. The grown-ups had underestimated her – the whole lot of them always did just because she was just a kid, just like the boys in her colony would underestimate her when playing Monster Maze because she happened to be a girl. _Typical boys!_

Newt hadn't been watching the derelict through the window – she had been keeping her eyes on the camera's glowing red indicator light in the reflection of the window! The glowing light beside the lens revealed that the camera was operational, but now as the power died down, the camera did so as well! The light winked out and died – Newt saw it all in the reflection.

Her long wait was over – now it was time to act. Newt jumped off the bed and knelt down beside it. There was a wall socket beside the sheets that was not visible to the camera and plugged into the outlet was an item that Newt treasured highly – a device she felt she was not supposed to have. A polysizable screwdriver, a battery-operated motor-driven tool that could magnetically catch on to the heads of any screws with the multi composite tip – layer upon layer of extremely thin titanium plates that could change shape from a flat-form to a star-form of every size.

The device belonged to Fixer, the midget mechanic she had befriended onboard the _Hercules_ after she had been resuscitated from her death 200 years ago. Newt was relieved that those doctors thawing her up hadn't found it in her pocket when reviving her – they'd just hang up her coverall to dry without checking what she'd carried with her in her icebox during her long sleep. She regretted still having it in her possession though… Newt was certain that if she had been able to return it like she should have, Fixer would have made it out alive from the _Hercules_ as well.

No point in dwelling on it now… she had it and she was going to use it. Taking it out from the outlet where it had been plugged in to be recharged, she brought it to the wall which carried the means of her escape. Her target was the air-duct vent that was covered by the electrified grate. She stood on a chair, reached up and touched the tip of the multi-tool to the metallic mesh of the cover – the tool had the capability to read the power-levels and display the result on a small screen on the handle. Nothing. The electrified grate had gone out together with the rest of the base's power. _Bors, you've just been suckered!_

Newt adjusted the shape of the poly-tool to match the screws holding the cover in place, then she activated the motor and exerted them. After a quick work, she could slide the cover to the side, and a path into the duct was now open to her. She wouldn't leave just yet though.

First she emptied a pillowcase from the bed, in which she put in some food from the refrigerator. Although she still wasn't that keen to eat, she knew that she would need the sustenance – if not for her, then for her roommate. She turned to it next.

"Jones! Come here, boy!"

She found the cat by the end of the bed where he was resting comfortably. The girl picked the orange fur-ball up, climbed the chair again and put the feline into the duct. The cat growled softly in protest.

"Don't argue," the child scolded the cat as she heaved herself into the duct after it. "I'm not leaving you here! Those soldiers could end up doing something bad to you when they find that I'm gone!"

It had been a close call for the cat before, when the burly guard Bors had come to collect her that last time. Newt hadn't wanted to go and had resisted – neither she nor Bors had expected the cat to come to her defense. Jones had attacked the guard and was starting to claw and scratch him… Bors had managed to knock the cat away though, but thankfully it had landed softly on the bed. Bors had been furious though and was on his way to use his weapon on the cat… Newt had stopped him from harming the animal by biting him in the hand. They had left before Jones could attack the soldier again, but the child knew that Bors hated the cat now, and he wouldn't hesitate to kill the creature as the next opportunity came. That was number one of three reasons why she'd fled her cell now.

Reason number two was because of Ripley. It had been extremely hard for Newt to see her. She wanted to be angry with the adult for what she had done, as it was her right to be. But as she had stood there, face to face with the adult, she had only felt the incredible urge to rush into her arms. She hadn't dared to though, seeing the mess of McHagen's office, knowing that the woman had been responsible for it. Newt couldn't decide if Ripley was a human, or if she was a frightful beast. It was because of that Newt had rejected the woman, but it had been costly. Newt hadn't showed it on the outside, but inwardly she had cried when she accused the woman of her wrongs she'd done to her. It had been painful, but it had to be done. Newt couldn't allow McHagen to gain a weakness of the girl that he could exploit.

Jacob McHagen was the third and main reason Newt was making her escape. She knew how much the man wanted those codes, and it wouldn't be long before he would take on some extreme measures to claim those passwords. But then he would jeopardize the girl's health for nothing. There was a good reason for Newt to be uncooperative, and it wasn't just because she didn't want McHagen to get control of the aliens. She couldn't give McHagen those codes simply because she didn't know them.

When Bishop had given her that disc before they parted ways for the last time aboard the _Hercules_, he had said nothing about any passwords. All he said was that he had made sure that only she would be able to access it, but how could she when she didn't know the codes? Bishop must've have made a serious error. And if McHagen found out the truth, she didn't dare to think what he would do to her. It was better to flee than to face his wrath.

The duct was cramped, but Newt wasn't troubled by that the least. She preferred it that way, as it meant that no one could follow her. And she was certainly small enough to pass though the narrowest of all passages. It had always been like that. When she and the other kids of the colony had played Monster Maze, she could hide better than anybody. With her excellent memory, she knew the whole network. She could get into tunnels that was full of wires and stuff, in the wall and under the floor. And for that she was called a cheater. The thought of that still angered her – she just happened to be better than they were. She was the ace! She still is.

These ducts were unfamiliar territory, but Newt wasn't worried about that. She had everything she needed to stay in there for a long time if necessary. She had light, (the multi-tool had a small LED-bulb in the handle,) she had food, and she had Jones. The cat trotted ahead of her, having no trouble at all walking through the tight duct. She had taken the time to read the folder that had come with the cat's stasis box… it was amazing that this cat had once been Ripley's and been one of the first creatures to face the aliens and survived. She wondered if the cat really would be able to catch the scent of aliens as Weyland had theorized – it would be an excellent addition to Newt's own sense for detecting the monsters, which would be helpful in her plan.

The plan was one that went against every principal she had, one that would never have been expected coming from her. She hated the aliens more than anything and would never want to be anywhere near them – and yet her goal was to somehow get to the other tower, which was alien central. Newt figured that her chances were, how illogical it sounded, better with _them_ than with McHagen. She knew the aliens, knew their methods, and therefore she knew how to avoid them. She had done it for weeks after the monsters had overrun her colony and she had survived - she could undoubtably do so again. And the way to get there was through the umbilical line between the two complexes! There was much to learn if you just took the time to listen. Somehow Newt was going to find the connection-point for all the cables that led over to the other complex, and then she would follow them. Newt wished she could've seen the look on McHagen's face when he found that she was gone.

* * *

The cell fell into a complete darkness as the power went out, but Ripley didn't even notice that. Her mind was completely somewhere else.

_How can it be Newt?_ she asked herself over and over again, sitting on the floor against the wall in the small compartment which served as her prison. _**How can it be Newt?!**_

It just wasn't possible. No matter how much she wished otherwise, Ripley knew that there just was no way for Newt to be here. She had died in the crash-landing on Fiorina 161, and that was two _centuries_ ago! So how could the child be in this time, looking no older than what she had been back then?

_\- It's quite obvious then, isn't it?_ a vile voice said in the back of her head. _\- It __**can't**__ be her, can it?_

The entity of Raksha had been quite distinguished lately, as if the demon of her darker side was in level with Ripley's own consciousness.

_\- You __**saw**__ her dead body!_ Raksha hissed at her, again showing her the image of the child laying lifeless on the operation table. _\- And __you__** saw** her be cremated in that furnace!_ A new image, this time of a body bag being dropped into an inferno of molten steel. _\- You saw, didn't you?_

"I saw," Ripley whispered in reply into the darkness.

_\- Then it's obviously not her!_

"Then who…?" Ripley began.

_\- Think about it,_ Raksha said in a hypnotizing tone. _\- They created you… __**us**__… in a lab! They took extreme measures to get their hands on our children! But you went rogue before they could finish their experiments, and now they want you back under their control. But you won't let them… you forced their hands… they know that the only way to get to you is to strike at you where it hurts you the most… making use of your only weakness!_

"Newt," Ripley whispered, realizing what Raksha was saying.

_\- It's hardly an effort for them, is it? It's easy for them to create a duplicate of her, to trick you into submission! A daring attempt to goad you to wanting to be reunited with her, like a gift. But no matter how perfect a replica they make, it will never be her, will it? They can never make her like she was! That is not a gift – it's an __**abomination!**__ They insult Newt's memory by making a second-rate image of her!_

"How _dare_ they?!" Ripley roared into the darkness. "How dare they to sully _my_ baby?!"

_\- It hurts, doesn't it?_ Raksha asked with a tone in her voice that hinted of a glee. _\- She's dead, but they won't leave her at peace. The very thought of them doing so gives you a tremendous pain, doesn't it?_

"It hurts terribly," Ripley admitted, her eyes stinging.

_\- I feel it_, Raksha whispered. _\- And I also feel your anger! Good! It is with anger we must answer this atrocity! We must exact revenge! Revenge for us! Revenge for Newt!_

"How can I exact revenge when all I feel is this horrible pain?" It wasn't just the pain for Newt's memory that was affecting her now – her veins were burning. It was like her acidic blood was set aflame from her anger and threatening to eat through her skin.

_\- It is the rage worthy of a xenomorph you feel coursing through you. It is too much for a mere human – but it isn't for me. There is a way for you to be free of the pain, and to get revenge! All you have to do is to give in!_

"Give in to what?" Ripley asked suspiciously.

_\- To me! I can do it in your stead! Relinquish control! Let me out!_

"You mean, swap places," Ripley said. "Your entity to mine. If I do that, then I'm lost. You'll never trade it back!"

_\- And what does it matter? It's not like you got a future! Say you do manage to destroy the xenomorphs, what would you do then? Your life will have no more meaning! You'll have nothing to live for! It would be an empty life where you would just sit and rot away isolated from everyone and everything! You don't even have any friends anymore! Call is dead, and your crew has abandoned you! As a human, you've got nothing! But as a xenomorph, you will have it all! You will be the mother of the superior species. You will have love, and you will have purpose – and you will never have to feel the pain again! And most importantly: we will be avenged! What more can you ask for?_

"All right."

_\- What did you say?_

"All right, god dammit!" Ripley spat. "You want the power? Then take it! I accept! I don't care anymore! This fucking galaxy has given me nothing but pain! I won't have any more of it – I'm through with trying to save this worthless and ungrateful human race! If those fools want the aliens so badly, then they can have them – and they can all _die_ for it!"

She suddenly sensed a feeling of joy overwhelm her, and she knew that it didn't originate from her. And yet it felt liberating. _\- So be it!_

What was happening in the dark cell for the next hours was too hideous to describe, so it was probably for the best that no one witnessed it. The military technicians did finally manage to restore power after some time, even though the storm still raged on outside. Had somebody looked inside Ripley's cell at the time the lights came back on, they would have been shocked at the sight.

Her features were still human, but her soul and spirit were completely alien. Her eyes appeared to be sunken deeply into her skull and were shadowed – but from the shadowed brow her eyes gleamed with a feral dispassionate fire, and her displayed smile was one of hunger. She was Ellen Ripley no longer. The life-form had her looks, but the mind belonged to Raksha: the mother of all Xenomorphs.


	18. The masked soldier

Jacob McHagen was most displeased. Not only had the recent black-out caused their computers to crash and plenty of data still due to be back-upped had been lost, but the power cut had also trapped the transport bus over at the other complex, and now after several hours they weren't responding to any hails. If they all had been taken by the aliens, then it would be hell to get the vehicle back, although not impossible: they still had the _Athena's_ ambulances at their disposal.

But the biggest nuisance above all was how certain parties at the base had made use of the power loss for her own gain: the child had escaped! The air duct with the removed cover spoke volumes on where she had gone, but it was just so unbelievable. She was much cleverer than McHagen had ever thought possible. The fact that she had moved so fast revealed that she had _planned_ this! That meant that she knew about the coming of the great storm, and she knew how it would affect them, and she had used that knowledge to her advantage. Outsmarted by a little girl: that was going to be a hard one to live down!

When the girl's absence had been discovered after they'd managed to restore power, McHagen had dispatched several search parties to intercept the child at the covers around the complex where she most logically would attempt to exit – but so far they had all drawn a blank. They had no idea where she had gone to, or where she could be headed. The only thing they were for certain of was that she couldn't have slipped into the umbilical conduit that linked the habitat complex with the research tower. It was too narrow and too tight to use as a crawlspace as it was filled with both electric and data-stream cables; therefore that route seemed quite unlikely. (If only they knew that it was indeed that route she had taken.)

McHagen paced around in complete rage in the conference room, so worked up that he screamed at his incompetent underlings and staff members alike.

"How damn hard can it be to find one blasted little girl?! So _find_ her! So _find_…" Here he interrupted his own rambling as he picked up one of his wine-bottles, threw it into the wall and making it shatter, spreading pieces of glass and drenching the surface of both wall and floor with red fluid. "…_that damned cursed little brat!_"

The members of the staff and the senior soldiers alike shivered, wishing they could somehow escape their commander's tantrum.

"She's making a complete _fool_ of us!" McHagen barked further. "A tiny child that doesn't even belong in this era is outmaneuvering the prime of the United Systems military! We cannot let us be _played_ like this! If it wasn't for the fact that I need those _codes…_! We _must_ get her back! And the disc!" It annoyed him greatly that he had now lost them both.

"But what does she hope to gain by escaping into the airducts?" Colonel Benelli spoke up. "Where can she go? There's no way for her off this planet, or even off this base! She hardly has any friends here… except…"

Bors, who stood quietly in the back ashamed as he had been the one posted to keep watch on the girl and had failed, looked up at the old colonel. "You think she might have gone to look up the woman prisoner, Sir?"

"Is that possible?" General Berger-Hauser spoke up. "I thought she didn't _want_ to see her?"

"What if that was a play as well?" Benelli theorized.

"Did anyone check on Ripley's cell?" McHagen demanded to know.

"I… don't think so, Commander," the squad leader said. "As we were led to believe…"

"Go there _at once!"_ McHagen ordered. With a 'yessir' in reply, the marine soldiers left the conference room in quite a hurry.

The supreme commander looked back at his staff members. "We can't allow any more setbacks!" he growled. Then he did a quick head count. "And where the heck is Colonel Hayes?!"

"I… haven't seen him since before the blackout." Benelli said.

"Well, find out where he is!" McHagen snorted. He was getting really tired of everybody's freebooting behavior.

* * *

The soldiers that had rushed from McHagen's conference room, scurrying to carry out his orders rather than be staying in his presence while he displayed his mad tantrum, quickly arrived at the door that sealed the small chamber where the woman intruder was incarcerated.

"Now, remember:" the squad leader cautioned. "that woman singlehandedly took out a whole pluton of soldiers in the garage. Don't hesitate to shoot with your stunners if she makes any false moves!"

"Aren't we too few to do this then?" Bors asked. There were only four of them, so his concern was valid.

"She's sealed in a small confinement, so she won't have enough space to move around," the leader said. But he sure wasn't feeling more secure with that fact himself. "Look, all we need to do is to find out if the child is in there… if she isn't, we'll just seal the door and leave. Otherwise, just shoot the woman with a stunner charge and get the girl out. We've already seen evidence of that she won't be permanently damaged."

"Fine by me," one of the other soldiers said and stood ready with his weapon. The leader nodded and opened the door. It was pitch dark inside.

"Shouldn't the lights be back on in here as well as with the rest of our power grid?" the other grunt asked in confusion.

"The lamps have been smashed!" the leader concluded. "Flashlights!"

They shone with their light bars into the dark cell. The sight they caught in the illumination startled them, made them recoil. The woman was in there, curled up in a fetal position. But she wasn't on the floor – she was hanging suspended _above_ the floor, her back attached to a web-like membrane that was draped from the walls and the ceiling. The soldiers had no way of knowing it, but she was hanging from the web in the same manner as an alien queen did. How the membrane had been produced they could not begin to imagine, and truth was, they were better off not knowing. The grunts stood in shock, not comprehending what they were seeing – that's when the woman raised her head, glaring at them with gleaming eyes from underneath the shadowed brow… and she smiled wickedly.

"You should have killed me when you had the _chance!_" her voice rasped, totally devoid of any human warmth. Then, faster than that was humanly possible, her arms shot out and grabbed the squad leader's shirt and pulled him in. He barely had time to scream before his blood sprayed out from the small compartment and out into the corridor. The three remaining soldiers took a step back in horror.

Raksha, for it was her, stepped out of the cell. She was stained with the blood of her victim, but it didn't bother her the least. Instead she let her gaze sweep over her surroundings, catching the three other grunts in her sight, and again she smiled coldly. Bors and the other two opened fire with their stunners, but Raksha sidestepped the blasts and moved up to one of her adversaries. She tugged at the rifle in the soldier's hands, making it go off. The electric charge missed her, but it did connect to the grunt behind her. As the stunner was set to full charge, it was powerful enough to kill the other. Shocked by what the woman had made him do, the soldier in her grasp could do nothing as Raksha wrenched the rifle from him. Barely within a blink of an eye, the demon woman clasped on to the grunt's throat, making him stand with his mouth open gasping for air – which was Raksha's whole intention.

Raksha jammed the wide muzzle of the rifle down the soldier's throat with the oversized shape dislodging the jawbone, pushing it all the way down to his abdominal regions. The unfortunate soldier gagged, although there was nothing more escaping but a muffled sound that was blocked by the object stuffed down his pharynx. He collapsed as he was chocking to death. There was only Bors left now.

Bors fumbled with his rifle, but he was so terrified that he couldn't hold it steady – and then the woman was upon him, slamming the rifle to the side. One of her hands grabbed Bors over his face, her sharp nails digging into his skin, making him scream. Her other clasped over his shoulders and she pried them apart, exposing his neck. She breathed heavily, like wild beast – and a beast she was. She snarled and bit into his neck. She was deaf to Bors' screams as she tore off sinew and blood veins with her sharp teeth, biting off a large chunk of meat. She stood for a moment with closed eyes, savoring the taste – then she spat out the human meat in disgust, dropping the man that was close to death in the process.

Raksha wiped her mouth with the back of her hand in an attempt to clear off the blood. _Still too much of a human yet_, she thought angrily to herself. _The taste of human flesh is still repulsive to my systems. But it's only a matter of time…_

The demon woman turned on her heel and left, paying no mind to the people she had just killed. Ellen Ripley would never have done such atrocities that had just been committed, but her entity was gone, buried deep within the mind of her former body. Raksha, whose true spirit was a heritage from the Xenomorphs, carried no such moral.

Raksha's manslaughter had been watched through the securcams. The men in the control-room had been stunned by what they'd witnessed on the screens and quickly activated the alarm. The soldiers on the base scrambled to meet the emergency, but as soon as they saw the nature of the cause for alarm, they weren't so keen on fighting. Most of the grunts were the ones whom already had gotten a beating in the garage before the blackout and they were in no hurry for a second round – and that had been against Ripley. But this was Raksha, and she was not prepared to cut the grunts more slack than what the former woman had offered. Quite the contrary…

The soldiers barely had time to release their first shots before the demon was over them. The fortunate ones were simply tossed aside by her inhuman strength, thrown hard into the walls to be knocked unconscious while the unlucky fared a lot worse. One piledriver-like punch in a face knocked loose the nasal bone and the splinter was driven into the skull cavity which speared the brain. An elbow in the throat flattened the airways on another. Raksha was a little more merciful to the others, but it had nothing to do with compassion; she felt that she could keep some alive 'til the time when she needed hosts for her new breed of terrible children, so she settled with breaking their kneecaps with a well-placed kick, downing them. On the last ones standing she simply twisted their heads around, snapping their necks. When she was through with the soldiers, she left without looking back, leaving a trail of both crippled and dead bodies.

Jacob McHagen was in the command center, having watched the woman's rampage on the viewscreens. For once he grew concerned as he watched the chaos, but that was probably because of his own experiences which he had endured with the woman up in his office. "My god," he mumbled. "What have we created?" The C.E.O. of Wal-Mart, Malcolm Verheiden's worries didn't seem so dismissive anymore.

Although the controller felt sick of the onslaught he'd witnessed, he had enough self-control to follow the woman's footsteps on the cameras. "She's heading back to the garage," he informed his commander. "It appears… she's leaving this base, Sir? She's heading for the gate. Where is she going?"

McHagen snorted. "Wherever it is, I like it much better than having her here!"

"Perfectly understandable, Sir," the controller said.

"Summon the medics. We need an emergency crew to pick up the casualties. We're getting quite many of them now!"

"And we can add one more to the list," Colonel Benelli said as he came in, looking grim. "One of us!" He was referring to a member of the syndicate.

"Who?" McHagen asked.

"Colonel Hayes," Benelli reported. "We found him dead."

"How did Ripley get around to kill him?" the commander asked bewildered.

Benelli shook his head. "Wasn't her doing. Hayes committed suicide - ate a bullet. I believe his conscience got the better of him."

McHagen didn't say it out loud, but in his opinion it wasn't a great loss. Hayes had grown too weak-minded for the commander's taste. And this development saves him the trouble of cutting off the late colonel out of their group of conspirators himself.

* * *

The power was back in the habitat complex, but not in the research tower. The other structure still lay in darkness, and no other systems were operational either. The crew of the _Betty_ had been stuck in the other garage for several hours now, keeping watch over the two marines, the weeping green shirt, and the driver with their captured weapons. As there was no energy, they couldn't open the gate to go back out, and neither could they open the doors into the complex - they couldn't go anywhere. The Felger twins had been trying to hot-wire some juice from the bus into the gate, but the systems weren't compatible.

"Told ya it was a waste of time," the cheeky driver spoke up. "It's not supposed to be easy to open those gates out there – it _does_ serve as protection against the radiation, ya know!"

"Be quiet!" one of the marines snarled at him. "We're not supposed to spill any information!"

Johner was quite irate. He hated to feel trapped, worse even when there were no options to explore. Not that options were something that worked with Johner - he was no strategist. Usually he would just shoot his way out through the closest exit when the odds were against him, but that was no alternative at this time. This was such an occasion when he would rather let his comrades do the thinking, but the Felger-twins had no success with getting their preferable escape route operational, and the slob Zack Ryan was no help at all. He only sat in a corner inside the bus, sulking. Johner was the one who kept watch on their former prison guards. It didn't make him feel any less uncomfortable that it was so dark in the garage and knowing that this building was bugger central. It was amazing that none of those critters had come looking for them yet.

The Felger twins gave up on the gate and came up to the rest of the group.

"Look, we're all in the same boat here," Naavek addressed the prisoners. "Any insight you might have to get us out of this mess would be much appreciated!"

"You guys set this place up," Keevan continued. "…therefore you must know the layout. What can we do to fix the power?"

The marines clamped their mouths shut, and they threw a warning glance to the driver to not give anything more up.

"You had better make up your minds," Johner said menacingly. "It won't be long until your little science projects come down on us! Do you really want that?"

"We don't know!" Andersson cried out. "We don't know anything about this complex – if we did, then we would!"

"Shut up, you fool!" one of the marines growled.

"There was only a hand-picked crew working here…" the ensign continued. "We weren't among the cleared – this is actually forbidden grounds for us! Please, I just want to get out here as much as you, I don't want to die in here!"

"Weakling!" the other marine snarled in disgust.

From seemingly out of nowhere, another voice broke in: "Those guys aren't going to be of any help to you at all."

That last voice spoken was a stranger to them, coming from behind. Johner spun around… in the dim light coming from the reflection of the bus's headlights shining on the wall, he caught sight of a silhouette in the semi-darkness. The head was a dome, the torso looked like it was ribbed, and from the back there were four long irregularly shaped protuberances sticking up from above the shoulders, like dorsal horns. An alien! Johner yelped in fright and fired off his captured weapon. The silhouette barely managed to duck, and the stranger of a voice let out a yelp of its own.

"Hold your fire, you baboon!" the new voice raged above the thunder of fire from Johner's gun. "I'm _not_ a Xeno!"

"You're not?" Johner replied, ceasing his firing. "Then _who_ the fuck are you?!"

The stranger came closer into the light. They could see now that the dome of the head was actually a riot control helmet with an opaque visor that was totally covering the newcomer's face, the dorsal horns were in fact the long barrels of four stunner rifles slung over his shoulders, and the straps from those were what made his deep-gray uniform to get wrinkled and thereby making his torso resemble a corrugated surface.

"Nice going!" the unknown soldier scolded the pirate. "If the aliens didn't know about you being here before, they've certainly become aware of your presence now after you blasting away with that thing!"

"Well then, don't sneak up on me like that!" Johner scolded back. "Who are you and how did you get in here? I thought the door was out of commission?!"

"Never mind who I am," the unknown soldier dismissed the question. "As for getting through the door, it may be out of power, but it's not locked. It's still possible to open it by hand in the very case of a possible burn-out so that you won't get trapped. So comfortable with self-opening service doors that you neglected to check that, did you?"

The pirates and military alike looked embarrassed. The thought of that possibility had never crossed their minds.

"Problem is that it's only viable to the walkway doors within the complex. The bigger loading gates are a different matter altogether. That's where the whole problem lies." The masked soldier turned to the twins. "I saw you try to hotwire that gate by using power from the bus. Does that mean you have mechanical engineering skills?"

The two brothers looked at each other, perplexed that they got a question like that directed at them.

"Not exactly…" Naavek said.

"Out skills are more like in explosives…" Keevan confessed.

"How to make the biggest bangs…"

"How to make the best use of them…"

"Like with directional proportions of the charge…"

"Stress mechanical counteracts and such…"

"We know bombs…"

"Ask us anything about that, and there's no problem..."

"Have you ever done bombs with electrical fuses and time delays?" the masked soldier asked. "Maybe even remote detonators? Electrical anti-tampering devices?"

"Yes!" Naavek replied.

"Those are our specialties!" Keevan said proudly.

"Then you _do_ know electrical engineering!" the soldier pointed out. "Here's the thing: we are a few survivors hiding out in this complex away from McHagen and his goons as well as from the aliens. We're keeping tabs on things here, keeping an eye on the critters to make sure they don't rush the other complex, but right now we're disabled! The storm took out the power grid, and none of us here have the skills to get it back up! If I take you to the main electrical distributions central, can you take a shot at getting the power back?"

"What's in it for us?" Johner asked.

"In return, I will afterwards take you to our safehouse," the soldier offered. "It's our last secure hideout from the aliens. Can you do it?"

The twins looked at each other again. "Well…"

"Could always give it a shot, I suppose…"

But Johner wasn't entirely convinced. "What's to stop us from just getting power to that gate and leave you suckers here?"

The soldier shrugged dismissively. "You could, but what would you gain by doing that? Where would you go? Out there is a radioactive wasteland with no other shelter and there's no way off this planet! And eventually we will lose control and the aliens will escape the perimeter – and you know who they will hunt for then? _You!_ No matter where you go, they will hunt you down! Is that what you want?"

"How come you care for our welfare?" Johner asked suspiciously.

"I don't! I just don't want any more of those nasty critters being born by having them capturing you. It's bad enough with the lot we've already got!"

Johner considered this. Finally he said: "Fair enough! Let's go."

"You have to follow my lead!" the masked soldier cautioned. "The aliens are passive during the day, but that doesn't mean they don't prowl the complex from time to time during all of the hours! I know some routes to get around them, but we must remain under constant vigilance to avoid detection! I'll pass out these stunner rifles I collected. You can be sure that it won't do much damage to those beasts, but hopefully it should be enough to give them a little incentive to keep back and allow us to get away." He passed out the stunners, but he had a fifth rifle with live ammo which he kept to himself.

Andersson was getting up to prepare to follow, but the other captured marines were not so cooperative. "Hold it right there, sir! We don't recognize you as an outranking officer to us!"

"You're in no position to pull rank here, soldier," the masked one said. "This is all about survival!"

The marines weren't going to back down though. "Why are you covering your face? Who are you!"

The other tapped his helmet. "It's no good for protection against the bugs, but any protection is better than none at all! As for my face, it would tell you nothing."

"I demand that you show it, sir!"

The masked one let out a sigh and lifted his opaque visor, showing the marines his features. He then replaced it. "Satisfied?" he asked.

The marines were not. "You can't trust him!"

"Why not?" one of the twins asked.

"He isn't one of us! I never saw this man before!"

"Maybe I'm one of the prisoners you brought in all those months ago to serve as cattle for your little 'science project'?" the mystery soldier implied.

"I don't know _anything_ about that!" the marine said in defense. "Besides, all of those were maniacal killers! Are you going to kill us?"

"If I had that intention, you'd already be dead!" the other pointed out. "Besides, you're accusing the wrong side here. Weren't you just bringing these guys in so that _they_ would die at the hands of the aliens?"

"That's _right!_" Johner growled. "_You're_ the ones so far looking to kill us, not the other way around! Let's not forget that it was _you_ who shot our ship down with us still aboard!"

The marines found it best to not argument any further.

"Shall we arm them?" the other twin asked.

"Goes against my better judgement," Johner muttered. "Give them the stunners, and then they'll take the lead. We'll follow behind with the real guns to keep an eye on _them!_"

"Then let's go!" the mystery man said. "I don't want to stay in one spot for too long. The aliens can get the scent of us in any moment."

Andersson was nervous. "But you said… the stunners should give them an incentive to stay off us? You sure about that?"

There was a bitter laugh coming from underneath the riot control helmet. "Don't count on it, kid!" Andersson looked ready to cry again.


	19. The logs of the derelict

Author's notes: I feel I need to point out before you read this chapter that while I do include the background of the Engineers from the movie Prometheus in my stories, I do _not_ in any way follow the events of what happened in the movie Covenant. I do not accept the idea that the android David is the mastermind behind the final stage of the aliens as we know them today. As this story has been roaming in my mind for a long time before I put it down into text, everything is made up before the Covenant was released to the pictures - that's why it is ignored.

* * *

The big storm had passed, but there was still quite a wind blowing outside – but that was no bother to the lonely figure. Raksha stood right beneath the hull of the gigantic U-shaped derelict at the base of the bend between the two horns. It was curiosity that had led her to this site – a feeling that she shared with her other, _weaker_ self. This place held a special significance. It was ironic - during all the time that Raksha's terrible children had been part of Ripley's life, the woman had actually never been here: to the place where it all started!

She stood before the three oval openings in the middle of the U-bend leading inside the ship, thinking of what had been happening at this very spot 260 years ago, with three members from the crew of the _Nostromo_: Dallas, Kane, and Lambert entering this vessel and thereby marking their doom. Now under Raksha's guidance, Ripley was going to get to visit the place herself. Smiling in anticipation, she went inside.

Raksha grew more jovial as she took in the shape of the corridor she'd just entered. _Ah, the sweet familiarity of a crèche!_ The xenomorph species all had genetic memories passed down to them from the generations before them, but the origin of this particular design was a vague and close to forgotten memory. The corridor was like the inside of a ribcage. Raksha couldn't recall who'd first came up with it. Was it her 'ancestors', or was it the creators that had been instrumental in their development in the first place? Perhaps those particular memories would come back to her as she explored the grounds.

Raksha soon reached the helm's platform where the pilot's seat was stationed in the middle of the elevated circular floor - and in the chair, immobilized through half an eternity was the fossilized carcass of the space jockey. The demon woman studied it for a while, recalling its significance in her buried memories. She found it curious that she was so interested in this – why was it so important? Her species of the Xenomorphs weren't nostalgic: they wouldn't care for the history of the space jockey's race, even though they _were_ the unintentional creators of Raksha's brood. Biomechanical engineers… scientists… researchers with no sense for morality to what they were doing, and it became their downfall. They were the creators of a black goo – a substance that acted like a parasitic virus, the goo evolving and adapting every time it got in touch with a new brand of DNA, spawning a better and more evolved lifeform for every change, until it became the perfect organism: Raksha's kind!

Yes, it was all there… deep within her long-buried memory, a mental marker that had been passed along together with the DNA into Ripley's body when she was resurrected almost two years ago.

Raksha suddenly realized with a start why this was so important to her to explore – it was all because of _Ripley's_ nature! Although only being a warrant officer in her past, she was a bit of an amateur scientist – she _liked_ to know things. And just as Raksha's special characteristics had been blended into Ripley upon her resurrection, making them a part of her, Ripley's traits were now also a part of Raksha! It angered the demon… _she_ was in control now, not the weakling of a woman who wouldn't kill! Raksha didn't like having the traits of the other interfering with her though patterns.

_So, Ripley, you feel like you have become the unfortunate victim of the space jockey's immoral games? You feel that humankind is forced to pay the unfair price for this race's law-breaking schemes when they created the black goo, and in effect: created us? Well, I got something to show you…_

Raksha went up to the dead pilot and climbed up to the chest level of the fossilized carcass. She studied the insectoid face for a moment, with its snout leaping from the nose section and into the upper part of the prominent rib-bones. Then she took hold with her hands underneath the snout and on the back of the head, and she pulled… her inhuman strength cracked the stone-like texture around the neck of the jockey all the way around and as it came loose, she lifted the severed alien skull off the broad shoulders and tossed it aside. The exoskeletal skull hadn't been the space jockey's true appearance – it was a helmet! Underneath there was another head, slightly smaller, but still much bigger than a man's, and humanlike. Not a human being, but a very close resemblance. The skull was bald, and its skin drawn and shrunken tightly over the bone. The face was stuck in an eternal grimace of agony with his mouth agape, a clear reaction from the cause of death he'd suffered. Further down the torso, there was a hole in the chest, with the bones bent outwards. There was no question of what fate had befallen him – their own creation being his ultimate demise.

_See the resemblance, Ripley? So, in a sense; your kind brought the curse of my brood upon yourself!_

Raksha felt like she had claimed a victory. Jumping down from the pilot's chair, she took in her surroundings a little closer. She wondered what had happened to this place? It looked like there had been a firefight here. There was a big hole on the edge from a massive explosion... scorch marks from acid blood and bullet holes. Someone had been here, fighting her children. She wondered who won?

Maybe there was a way to find that out…

It had apparently never been noticed before, but there were four different consoles spaced equidistantly around the platform. Raksha knew this because that architectural fact had been noticed by an 'ancestor' of hers a long time ago and the knowledge had been passed down genetically – such irrelevant knowledge registered in that time turned out to be valuable to Raksha today. How ironic. When not in use, the consoles were folded into the circular platform with such an indistinguishable blending that they became invisible to the untrained eye. Whatever had exploded in here must've made one of those cover-plates to a control-station closest to it to come loose and fold up. There was an oversized chair, (a perfect scale to the space jockey,) mounted in front of an instrument board embedded into the side of the high floor. From Raksha's perspective, it was a control pit. She jumped down into it and took a seat.

Making use of both her deep-rooted memory from an ancient time when her brood first came to be and making use of Ripley's sense for analyzing and organization, Raksha's hands began to play over the multiple imbedded hemispheres on the board. The console came to life. As impossible as it must have seemed like, considering how long this wreck of a ship had been laying abandoned on this rocky wasteland, there was still an active power-source somewhere within this derelict.

Raksha didn't have the patience to try to decipher the script that was obviously the dead jockey's native language – she just pushed the controls which consisted of jellylike buttons randomly, hoping to bring up something useful. Her hand passed over a matte inlay… and suddenly the chamber sprang to life. Not with lights, but with several blue-shimmering holographic images. She must've come across the log, which had been her intention from the start.

It was holographic images of humans… soldiers, and plenty of them. The feed of power wasn't optimal, so the images were blurry and indistinguishable – she couldn't make out any features on either of them, and there hardly was any sound to speak of. But she could tell that she was watching a retrieval expedition that had visited the derelict recently. There was activity going on beside a crude tripod device mounted on the floor that appeared to be a winch of a kind, and those soldiers appeared to be in conflict with each other. One was held between two others, and they seemed to be arguing. Three more soldiers stood poised against each other, looking down towards the floor around the device.

Suddenly the three soldiers were showed aside as a blurry image emerged from beneath them. Raksha understood now that there was a hole in the floor over there – she simply couldn't see it from her vantage point. The demon smiled at the scene that played out before her – it was one of her terrible children. She enjoyed watching how the soldiers panicked, and how the creature moved in to take them all out. There was even a second one coming in after a while. But as the replay of the log progressed, Raksha became dismayed. One of those soldiers took charge, and actually managed to outmaneuver her kin. In the end, the xenos lost. But the battle she had just witnessed on the holographic replay explained the damage in here. Disappointed, she hit the controls again and went for the logs further back. She was starting to get the hang of this weird control panel now that was alive with a strange green energy ribbon floating above it that was reacting to her touch. She would never admit though that it was thanks to her human side that she came to understand it.

Another entry showed the holographic images of two regular humans, a man and a woman skulking around the platform. Raksha didn't know those people, and found the log to be of no interest, so she skipped watching this. There was no way for Raksha to know, nor would she have bothered to care as it was inconsequential to her, that the couple she just dismissed to watch were in fact Newt's parents from the time when they had entered the ship.

Another log, recorded even longer ago was of a much rather significant interest. The holoprojector was now showing the images of three astronauts exploring the chamber. It was indeed the crew of the _Nostromo_. Raksha watched as two of them lowered the third down the hole in the floor. Since the images replayed the events as they occurred on site, Raksha couldn't see what was going on with the astronaut below, but she could imagine. She fast-forwarded a bit to the point where the astronauts hauled him up again – despite the blurry image, she could make out the face-hugger underneath the helmet of the one who was first: Kane. Raksha showed off a wicked glee before she twirled the energy ribbon above the board to search for other entries.

Finally she found what she was looking for: the last moment of the space jockey's life. The blue-shimmering holographic image overlay itself around the fossilized carcass. As his facial features were covered by the helmet of the exoskeleton suit, Raksha couldn't see what expressions the humanoid displayed. But she could make out how the figure was twisting in his security straps, and suddenly the side of the torso exploded, revealing a tiny figure emerging from within. The holographic image of the little monster jumped out of the now dead host and began to run off.

Quick! This was what Raksha was after: she wanted to know the fate of the first little chest-burster! She flew out of the chair and began to run after the little holographic creature into the depths of the derelict. After a bit of chase around bulkheads and corners of the ship, the little creature had finally come to rest in the bowels of the vessel, conveniently enough underneath the 'bridge', in the cargo-hold where thousands of eggs had been stored. The eggs were dead since hundreds of years back, the ovoid shapes being nothing more than dried, collapsed husks.

Raksha studied the image of the little creature where it had stopped. It was curled up now, about to go through its adolescence and grow. That would take a little while, so Raksha took her time to look through the rest of the cargo-hold. She realized that she was almost right beneath the hole, the entry in which Kane and all others had gone through to get down here. She looked over the area, saw the eggs that were stored here. These eggs have been tampered with. Each one of them had a strange metallic four-armed claw attached to the top, sealing the petals, and trapping the face-hugger inside. These must've been left by the retrieval expedition she had watched in the replay upstairs. Curious. If these eggs were secured, then why hadn't McHagen hauled them out of here?

Raksha stepped up to a clawed egg and put her hand to the surface of the leathery shape. What she found discouraged her. These were dead too! Every single one of the clawed eggs here were _dead!_ Two hundred years since the last visit, with no one to tend to the eggs, giving them no nutrients! They had all succumbed to time, withered and died!

But if these eggs were dead, then where had Jacob McHagen gotten the spores to make a new breed? That was a mystery Raksha was eager to solve, although it would have to wait for a short while. She went back to the image of the newborn alien. It appeared that the space jockey's log-computer was smart enough to not register extended periods of total inactivity, because she deduced that the now fully-grown warrior had been sitting dormant by the eggs for a long time doing nothing, as there was no threat nearby. Now the holo-image of the alien rose up and wandered into the dark and secluded corners of the ship. Raksha followed. The alien picked a spot against the wall, curling up as if going to sleep… and there the log ended.

Raksha stared at the spot where the replay had showed the alien warrior's last known whereabouts. There was a bulge there, a protuberance of what appeared to be made of solid stone. Raksha understood. The alien warrior born out of the space jockey had gone into hibernation and had wrapped a membrane around itself, like a cocoon. During the long years of inactivity and solitude, the membrane had fossilized, trapping the creature inside.

An idea came to Raksha… the cocoon may be fossilized, but that didn't necessarily mean that the creature inside was dead! It had gone into hibernation, shutting down all of its vital systems – and the stale membrane shell might have preserved it under all this time!

Raksha found a piece of a rock, reached up on top of the bulge on the wall and carefully carved out a hole in the shell. Then she used the rock to cut a hole in her hand, drawing blood. She allowed her living and active life fluid to drop into the hole she had made in the shell, thinking that it should give some reaction to the dormant creature within.

Nothing happened.

Raksha shrugged. Well, it had only been an experiment anyway. She decided it was time to leave the derelict. All of the eggs here were dead, so she had nothing to do here. But over at the other complex, there were plenty of her children alive and active. She would go there now and join them to take her rightful place as their mother as was her destiny.

* * *

In the research tower's main electrical distributions central the Felger twins were working feverishly to make heads and tails of all the power-cables and circuit-boards. They felt that they shouldn't have been so quick with agreeing to attempt to restore power to the complex, thinking that they had taken on more than they could chew. The young green shirt Andersson provided light by holding up a flashlight into the compartment of electrical threads – he wouldn't be the cause of any problems.

It was the two marine soldiers that had to be watched, more than the cheeky driver. They stood to the side on sentry duty, but it was obvious that they were thinking that they had to regain control of the situation. Zack Ryan in turn was in charge of watching them, but he wasn't doing a very good job at it. It was a dangerous development where not only the captured soldiers posed a danger, but also because of the overhanging threat that the Xenomorphs could drop in on them any time. The mystery soldier wasn't with them right now – he was scouting ahead, claiming that he was listening for movements. Johner, who over-watched the whole group was really beginning to lose his patience.

"Will you hurry it up?" he snarled at the twins.

"We're doing the best we can!" Keevan snapped back.

"You wanna do this instead of us?" Naavek shot in.

Johner snorted. "I wreck things… I don't fix them!"

The pirates were disorganized and agitated, and the slob who was supposed to watch them was in a world of his own. The two marines found this to be the perfect opportunity. Acting inconspicuously, they began to move in to a better position. They were armed with stunners; it would be easy to shoot the scarred man down from behind as it was he who posed the greatest danger, and then they would reclaim their rifles that had the live ammo. One marine lifted the barrel of the stunner, released the safety catch… and then found that he had another muzzle of a rifle pressing hard against his chin.

"Don't try it," the mystery man said calmly under his helmet, having come back from who knows where. Grumbling quietly, the marines lowered their weapons. Johner jerked back, grimacing angrily as it dawned on him what the marines had been attempting to do.

"Weren't you supposed to watch these guys so that they wouldn't try anything?" the mystery soldier chided Zack Ryan.

The slob gave him the finger. "Fuck off, bucket head! I don't take orders from you!"

"Well, somebody's got a real attitude problem," the man observed.

"_No one_ tells me what to do!" Ryan almost yelled. "No cops or military, no cripples, no losers, and especially no wenches!"

"Keep it down! You want to lure the aliens here?"

"I don't _believe_ in your fucking aliens!"

"Are you in for a surprise," the mystery soldier mumbled. He turned to Johner. "What's his problem?"

"Damned if I knew," the scarred man replied. "He's never been a team player. Dislikes everybody, especially women."

"Why do you keep him around?"

"I don't remember the details… something about a debt for our ship. Call knew the story, but she's dead. But he has never been much help – he only steals: both from us and from the places we visit. I can tell he's sulky right now because he had to abandon his loot when our ship was shot down."

"Well, he'd better get his head into the game or he won't live long around here."

"No great loss if you ask me," Johner said without caring if Ryan heard him or not.

The mystery man turned to the twins. "How's it coming?"

"Got a good news/bad news situation here," Keevan answered. "The good news is that all of these circuits seem to be in good order. No burnouts or anything."

"The bad news is that since there's nothing wrong with the circuits, we can't locate the problem," Naavek continued. "There's nothing concrete for us to fix!"

"That's funny," the mystery man said. "With that massive storm blowing over us setting the dynamos into overdrive, I would have expected several of the circuits to be fried."

"That's what the surge protection boxes are for," Keevan explained. "Those automatically switch off all of the circuit breakers during an overload so that the delicate machinery won't get…" Here he stopped himself and looked over at his brother.

Naavek caught on immediately. "Surely it couldn't be that simple?" As one, the twins went over to the box that held the master switch to the entire grid. They flipped the lever and suddenly the light came back on.

"Don't tell me!" the mystery man said with a groan.

"Oh, but we gladly will," Keevan snickered. "The main surge protector kicked in and closed the master switch."

"All it took was to reset the grid to the complex to full power." Naavek said proudly. "You should be running fine now."

The mystery soldier sighed. "Now I'm embarrassed! Here I taunted you for the doors that weren't locked, only to have this simple solution thrown in my face. Well, that makes us even, and you've earned your sanctuary. Let's head there right now. The aliens are smarter than we like to think, they know that electricity is essential to us. They know where to look now."

"Will you quit nagging on us about your phony E.T.'s?" Ryan barked. "It's just a bunch of horse crap!"

"Fine, then you can stay here," the mystery man said. "The rest of you: follow me." Johner, who was well aware that the aliens actually existed followed the other's lead without questioning. The twins fell in line as well. The four soldiers knew that they had a better chance for survival if they stuck with the larger group, so they too tagged along. Grumbling that he was the only one left, Ryan came along last, having nowhere else to go. But he was fuming inside that he was per result the odd one out in making that decision.

* * *

Raksha was just outside the walls of the research complex when the power came back online. She found it curious. Her children had no need for electricity and she doubted that the complex was able to restore power on its own. That meant that some of her enemies were still alive in there. Well, that little nuisance was soon going to be dealt with. Raksha stretched out with her feelings, rejoiced in the contacts she made. So many of her children were here. Soon they would be together. Raksha found the main carport and headed there. In that sense, it was perfect that the power was back now – that meant that she could just wire-cross some cables in the same way she/Ripley had done when getting into the first complex. The gate opened, and she slipped inside while listening for the whereabouts of her children. So engrossed was she in her feelings that she forgot what to expect inside the lock she had just entered. The siren shook her out of her dreamy state and made her aware of the sanitation cycle that was going into effect. DECONTAMINATION COMMENCING!

_Oh, bloody hell._ Raksha barely had time to think this before she was once again sprayed with hot high pressurized fluid to rinse her off the radiation particles she was carrying together with the stains of dried blood that had gotten on her when killing those soldiers earlier. It was a shorter procedure though as she hadn't been outside for so long this time.

DECONTAMINATION COMPLETE!

_I must remember to disable that system!_ Raksha thought angrily as the base admitted her by opening the inner door.

* * *

When they'd first ventured out to the complex's main electrical distributions central, the group had been forced to take the stairs halfway up the tower as there had been no power to the lift – but now as they got electricity again, the mystery man had taken the reluctant team down with the only elevator that existed in the structure. The masked soldier led them through the gloomy corridors, explaining to the pirates how the route would take them to the strong point of the complex where some survivors resided. He told them the best way to get there – but as they were about halfway, the masked man stopped right beside a closed passageway.

"What's up, soldier boy?" Johner asked.

"I'm not sure," the masked man mumbled. "But I feel unease. There's something peculiar going on here."

"Well, isn't _that_ convenient?" Zack Ryan spat.

Ignoring the slob, the masked man addressed the others. "I fear that the aliens are changing tactics! I need to look into it closer… therefore I need you to stay here - and keep absolutely quiet! I'm going to scout ahead to make sure that the perimeter is clear."

"Can't you buttheads see what he's doing?" Ryan stepped forward. "He's got what he wanted, now he's leaving us!"

"Surely he wouldn't?" Andersson piped up.

"You know…" the cheeky driver now spoke. "It does look a little suspicious."

"Don't be ridiculous," the masked man snapped. "If I had wanted to leave you, I could easily have done so upstairs. Now keep the noise discipline and remain vigilante. I'll be back in a moment."

"Don't trust him!" Ryan persisted with a raised voice. "He's setting a trap for us! I say, let's waste him and then we'll…"

The masked man have had enough. He grabbed on to the collar of the slob and spoke into his face from behind the helmet. "Listen here, you runt, I'm sticking my _neck_ out to save you lot. Now I don't care what you believe, but right now you're in _my_ territory and you stand by _my_ rules! And know this: if you raise your voice and give away our position one more time, I'll _bleed_ you, real quiet, and leave you here! _Got that?!_" He released the slob with half a shove and then he went ahead to scout. He walked past the door that was located to their left, ignoring it.

Zack Ryan shot daggers with his eyes after the masked man. "No one treats me like that! _No one!_"

"And what are you going to do about it then?" Johner sneered at him.

"Give me your gun," Ryan indicated to the rifle with live ammo that was in the scarred man's possession. "I'll kill him!"

"Forget it!" Johner shot back. "No one's shooting anybody right now. It would attract unwanted attention!"

"Oh, so you're going to do what _he_ says now? Since when did you become a lap dog and started to lick up his ass?"

"Watch it!" Johner spat. "I don't trust him if that is what you think, but unlike you, I have _seen_ the buggers, and I don't want them crawling up my ass. So shut your trap now!"

"You're nuts! All of you!"

"Be quiet!" one of the marines now snapped.

"_You don't tell me to…_" Ryan began, but silenced as the marines trained their stunner rifles at him. Johner and the twins did nothing to back him up. "Since when did you start to trust him?" Ryan almost barked.

"We don't, but he has the right idea. I'm hearing a noise. I think I'm hearing someone approach from behind that door, and I don't think it's the mystery guy. There's someone else here!"

That was enough to set Johner's nerves on edge. They all raised their respective weapons pointing at the closed door to their side.

* * *

Raksha could feel them – her precious children were nearby. They felt so close that Raksha was sure that she would find them behind the barrier before her. She fiddled with the controls - the door opened without problems, but instead of finding her terrible children, Raksha came face to face with the crew of the _Betty _together with a couple of unknown soldiers. The demon woman didn't show any surprise though, unlike the others who had their weapons raised against the unexpected newcomer. They recognized her in the last second before the first shot went off.

"Oh, it's _you!_" Johner scowled as he lowered his rifle. He wasn't really that happy, or even relieved to see her – not after the scene at McHagen's office. "Where the hell did you come from? What are you even doing here? I doubt that you decided to look us up since we mean _nothing_ to you, did you?"

Raksha smiled wickedly. "It's a wonder that you're still alive. I would have expected the aliens to have picked you off by now."

Johner felt an icy chill course through him. "Why do I get the feeling that you would've _liked_ that?" He could see that the woman had undergone yet another change. Her hard eyes whom had been dispassionate and cold before were now like icicles underneath a shadowed brow, and her smile was predatory and without warmth. As if Call's death hadn't been enough to throw her over the edge, it seemed that her encounter with that strange kid back at McHagen's office had pulled her under completely. This new version of Ripley frightened him, and Johner did not consider himself a man to be easily frightened.

The Felger twins appeared to be thinking in the same line as he, while the marine soldiers of the group were at loss. Their first initial thought was to shoot the woman as she was seen as an enemy after what she'd done to their comrades in the garage back at the habitat complex. They held their fire though as it wasn't the best of occasions to make unnecessary noises. That left the final survivor of the _Betty, _and he remained as stupid as ever.

"_You!_" Zack Ryan stepped up, looking raving mad. "You dumb broad who is too _stupid_ to be flying a ship, what happened to my stuff?"

"Is that _all _that you can think of now?!" Naavek questioned him.

"What happened to my valuables, you bitch? Were they destroyed in the crash?!"

Raksha looked at the slob in disgust. Her silence seemed to anger him even more.

"Can my stuff be salvaged?" he demanded as he raised his fist. "_Tell me, you stupid whore, _TELL ME!" He swung his clenched hand at the woman, intending to strike her. But before he could connect, the other caught the flying fist in her palm, halting the strike. And then she began to squeeze it with enough force that threatened to crush every bone in Ryan's hand. Ryan cried out in agony and was forced down on his knees as he tried to get out of her grip.

"You _pathetic_ little excuse for a human," Raksha snorted. "It is _unbelievable_ that you've managed to survive this long."

The Felger twins misunderstood what the demon woman really meant. "Yeah, if it hadn't been for that strange soldier who came to find us after we arrived here, we might already have been dead."

"Get her off me!" Zack Ryan continued to scream. "Get this damn wench off me!" But no one came to his aid. They felt that he had brought it upon himself, and no one would risk attracting Ripley's wrath upon them should they try to interfere. Not even Call had gotten out of it unscathed every time she had attempted to stop Ripley from doing an evil deed, and Call had been the one of them all Ripley had liked best.

"What soldier?" Raksha asked Keevan Felger without letting go off Ryan's hand.

"We really don't know much about him, he never showed us his face. We only got the impression that he's been here for quite some time as he knows his way around. He claims that he knows how to get around the creatures – he was to bring us to a safe place."

Raksha's interest was piqued. Somebody who knew how to avoid capture by her children? That was unthinkable! There was no escape from her kin! No one could hide from them!

"And where is he now?" she asked.

"He went ahead," Naavek replied. "Said that he wanted to check the perimeter before…"

But before Naavek could finish, a hand slammed down on the woman's shoulder and spun her roughly around, making her coming face to face with a human whose head was covered by an armored helmet for riot control with an opaque faceplate. "_You?!..._" a voice gasped underneath.

The masked soldier had no way of knowing that touching the woman like that was highly risky to your health. Raksha let go of Ryan's hand and instead grabbed on to the obtrusive wretch's neck, showing him hard into the wall. Raksha was about to punch the faceplate in with her other fist when the mystery soldier suddenly removed his helmet.

"This is unbelievable…" the man said as his face was revealed. "You're supposed to be _dead_, Ripley!"

Raksha halted, cooking her eyebrow in bewilderment. As she shared all her memories with Ripley, she _recognized_ this man. But his presence here went against how memory served her. This man wasn't supposed to be here. It was therefore more of interest rather than of familiarity that she let go of the soldier's neck and released him. Her voice however didn't give hint to any form of surprise as she spoke her reply.

"Likewise, Hicks," she said neutrally.


	20. Out of the frying pan

**Flashback: Acheron year 2182**

Sitting on top of a high cliff, gazing over the rocky valley, Corporal Dwayne Hicks was waiting for the final moment of his life. Death was inevitable as he sat outside in a radioactive environment without a protection gear, but also because of the nasty little parasite which had invaded his body.

One would expect the man to be in a total despair for his predicament, but Hicks was actually quite content with it. He felt he had done what was expected of him, and he was fine with dying to make sure that the monster within him wouldn't be born. He was infested with a xenomorph queen, an egg-laying bug-like creature that was as ferocious as it was deadly – a creature which the CEO of the Weyland-Yutani Company, Michael Weyland, coveted above than anything.

It was because of the creatures that Weyland had sent a secret expedition first to Fiorina 161 to pick up the dead bodies of Hicks, Newt, and Bishop. The three of them had been revived and then had against their will been brought back to LV-426 on a mission to pick up more of the dangerous organism which already had cost the lives of hundreds of people before them.

The mission turned disastrous of course as the people in charge never wanted to listen to reason: the aliens could never be contained. They broke free and had already slaughtered every other expedition member – now it was up to the reluctant survivors to rectify the situation.

Every remnant of the horrible species was about to be eradicated from the galaxy. The eggs onboard the derelict that was the source of the abominable lifeform, and the active drones onboard the Earth ship, the USCM _Hercules_ – they were about to be reduced to atoms. The android Bishop was right now taking the military vessel down on a collision course with the alien derelict, which would destroy them both upon impact. Hicks could see the ship approach even now in the distance. Still only a small glowing dot, its hull burning from the atmospheric friction of reentry. On the edge of the horizon the corporal could make out the U-shaped form of the crash-landed alien vessel. It would be quite a pyre.

Hicks saluted the sky with his bottle of liquor as he witnessed the glowing dot grow closer to its target. "Cheers, Bishop," he mumbled before he put the bottle to his mouth to take a swig. He never swallowed the fluid though as he suddenly felt a tremendous pain in his gut, so violent and intense that he spat out the liquid in reflex and dropping the bottle on the ground where it broke. He knew what the pain meant: the queen inside him had decided it was time to make her appearance, by chewing her way out of his ribcage and cause him a bloody death. Well, Hicks had a _present_ waiting for her!

In his pocket he carried a grenade. He was going to hold it to his chest and allow it to blow, taking both he and the little bastard queen with him into oblivion! This little parasite would never see the light of day – it was Hicks' final responsibility to see to that, a vow he had made to both the previous victims of the alien species, and to the little girl he had sworn to protect. He armed the grenade and put it to the spot on his chest where the little monster was tearing out of him.

Intent on letting the little beast know what was coming, he let his thoughts stretch out from the back of his mind, from the area of his brain where he had somehow gained the ability to communicate with the aliens. It had happened while he'd been at the mercy of the facehugger who had attacked him. Hicks couldn't remember it, but while he'd been unconscious, Bishop had injected him with a compound that he had synthesized from samples of a dead xenomorph that was referred to as a 'royal jelly' – a chemical substance that changes the genetic structure of a maturing pupa into a queen. Bishop had done this to win them the time they needed to escape the confinements of the _Hercules_ and to protect them from the loose drones. No drone would risk doing any harm to a host who carried a queen. Hicks didn't have proof, but he speculated that the royal jelly had changed him as well, giving him the ability to talk with the beasts. And that's what he did now: he connected his mind to the little parasite within him, telling her that she was about to receive a face-full of explosive fire.

"Cheers, _Bitch!_" he spat as he watched the electronic display counting down towards zero.

That's when it all just stopped. The excruciating pain in his gut just disappeared, from agony in one moment to feeling nothing at all in the next. He couldn't even feel the mind-presence of the larva anymore – it was like her thought patterns had ceased to exist, as if she suddenly just died. And Hicks had this funny thought that he had just gone through a _miscarriage!_ The alien had died – he was going to _live!_ These thoughts passed through his mind in only an instant. An amazing biological device was the human brain – you could have hundreds of different thoughts going through your head with only a few seconds passing in real life… that was what made Hicks come to the conclusion that the alien was dead before the grenade detonated. He only had two seconds to act though.

Hicks threw away the explosive device, casting it down the cliff he was standing next to. Thanks to the protruding upper edge of the rock, Hicks was shielded from the explosion as the grenade went off. Hicks was still alive… and he felt like a complete fool.

The alien queen within him wasn't dead at all! What Hicks had failed to take into consideration was that if he had the ability to speak mind to mind with the xenomorphs, then naturally the aliens would be able to hear _his_ thoughts as well like he was a tape-deck playing to a public.

The alien queen… although she was only but a larva still, she obviously had some kind of an intelligence available to her. She had _heard_ what Hicks had been planning to do by listening to _his_ mind! Hicks could feel the queen's emotional state right now: she was what was closest described to a human term smirking. Knowing that Hicks was about to kill both himself and her, she had faked her birth. It wasn't time yet. But when she sensed her host's mind connect to hers, she had shielded her own, stopping all sensations and going into an instant hibernation, faking death. And then she subliminally planted the idea into the other's mind that she had died, knowing that his self-preservation would kick in and make him throw the grenade away. And it had worked all the way.

"You _tricked_ me!" Hicks realized. "You blasted little _devil_…!" And he had just discarded the only means he had available to him to end this nightmare. He felt how the beast went back into slumber, resuming her task to grow now as she knew that she was safe.

What the hell was he going to do now? Hicks had no more grenades - he didn't have any other weapons at all. And even if he had, he wouldn't trust those to finish the job. There was no way for him to know that even if he killed himself like shooting a round though his head, there was no guarantee that the queen would die with him.

There was a thunder in the sky. In despair, Hicks threw a glance towards the horizon… and caught a sight of a burning meteorite about to fall down on his head. No, not a meteorite… the _Hercules_! The big cruiser was about to crash down right into the cliff where he was standing! Barely having time to think, Hicks acted on his instincts. He jumped off the bluff, diving into the same abyss where he had discarded the grenade a few seconds earlier. The protruding sky-reaching rockface had shielded him from the blast of the grenade – now it was to shield him from the massive explosion of the crashing ship.

The night-sky became bright as day as the massive ship exploded just as it connected to the rocky ground after having passed over the edge of the precipice Hicks had just jumped from. The chill of LV-426's primordial atmosphere suddenly became as hot as a furnace, the ground shook, and the soundwaves of the massive boom filling the valley was enough to rupture any eardrum of a human standing in the middle of it.

Hicks stayed down on the bottom of the cliff for several minutes before he deemed it safe to climb back up. His ears were ringing, but only from the sound of the echoes, and not from direct exposure to the sound-blast. He was bruised after having landed hard from the jump and he was also a bit singed from the superheated air – but otherwise he had fared surprisingly good, aside from being covered by rock-dust and soot that had been knocked off the cliff above him. Getting back up on top of the ridge, he observed the carnage from the once proud military ship of the 'Rawhides'. There was nothing left, only burning wreckage strewn all over the valley. It now dawned on Hicks what this meant and the frustration of it made him roar out above the crackling sound of raging fire.

"BISHOP! GODDAMN YOU! YOU _MISSED!_"

The _Hercules_ was supposed to crash into the derelict, destroying it along with its deadly cargo! But the alien ship had once again prevailed, just as the queen within him had. The humans had lost.

What the hell was he going to do now? That was the question that rose again. Hicks was the only one left now. Bishop was gone, all weapons were obliterated along with any kind of transport. He couldn't… _wouldn't_ go back to the EEV in which he had travelled down with and where he had left Newt in her icy sarcophagus. With the alien within him, he would absolutely not expose her to that risk. As it looked, there was only one course of action open to him – and that was to do what his duty as a soldier compelled him to. Somehow he would finish the job! Continue the mission!

Hicks turned around, spied the alien derelict in the horizon – and then headed out towards it. Who knows… there might be a device there, something that would serve as a self-destruct ordnance! He would go there and search for a solution while he still had the time. He didn't know what would kill him first: the alien queen or the radiation – but no matter what he would finally succumb to, he wouldn't give up! It was up to him now!

* * *

Halfway towards the derelict, Hicks began to think that it would be the radiation that would be the death of him. His exposure to the poisonous atmosphere was beginning to take its toll on him now. He had a headache, blisters had begun to appear on his body - but that was only the beginning compared to what was going to come. He recited in his head what he knew about radiation poisoning:

He was beginning to suffer nausea, which was to be followed by tremors, convulsions, and something called ataxia. Surface tissue and internal organs will inflame and degrade from necrosis. Hicks didn't know the exact level of radiation that was swimming over the planetoid from when the atmosphere processor of Hadley's Hope had blown three years earlier, but he estimated that he perhaps had an Earth-standard days' worth before it would become a real problem. Unless he didn't drown from his own blood and fluids first, he would bleed to death. The agony was going to be horrific… unbearable. It was hard to tell which fatality was considered to be the worst between the radiation and the alien queen. Hicks could only hope that he would find a self-destruct on the derelict before either of the things happened.

With LV-426's two-hour rotation, a day and a night had come and gone by the time Hicks finally reached the derelict. He was by then a mess, not only from the bleeding wounds caused by the poisoning, but also because of the winds that was equivalent to Sahara's sandstorms that had not been merciful to his already burning skin. He was grateful for the shelter of the ship as he stumbled inside, escaping the ravaging storm. He felt an urgent need to rest, but he didn't know if he had the time. _Rest when you're dead!_ he told himself and slithered further into the wreckage.

Finally he was at the bridge, or whatever the species of the fossilized space jockey had referred this part of the ship as. The place was a mess after their battle with the alien drones that had resided within the ship, but he knew that Bishop had gone through the area thoroughly – there had to be something here that was still workable. The derelict still had a functioning power source - Hicks knew that from Bishop's descriptions of that mystical energy barrier that used to cover the eggs down in the hold before the android had shut it off. He therefore went first to the helm in the middle of the platform that was the space jockey's chair. He touched the controls that faced the carcass on the giant telescope or whatever that thing was. There was no reaction on the board whatsoever. The circuits to this device were obviously severed.

Getting down from the pilot's chair, groaning a bit from the pain that was coursing through his body as the radiation poisoning continued to destroy his cells, Hicks looked around feverishly, seeking another computer console of sorts. He then spied something beside the spot where a large chunk of the platform at the edge had been blown away from the explosion that had killed the last drone they had been forced to fight here. There was a crack in the floor, too precise in shape to be a result from damage. It looked more like a hidden ovoid panel that had come loose. Digging his fingers into the crescent-line crack, he mustered all of his strength to lift the panel to uncover what secrets it concealed. With a creaking sound, the panel folded backwards and repositioned itself into a new position, revealing a whole new control pit, complete with instruments boards and chair. The chair resembled the shape and structure of a giant leaf made of metal. _Now we're getting somewhere_, Hicks thought to himself as he took place in the oversized seat, its proportions matching those of the space jockey. He was satisfied to see that contrary to the helm, this station did have power. The controls lit up under his touch, and he began to play with the strange multiple imbedded hemispheres.

The first that happened was that three more stations popped up from underneath cover panels around the circular platform in a perfect clockwise formation, a quarter distance from each other. Hicks would look at them later…

It was the strangest control-board he'd ever seen. The buttons were emitting a strange green energy-ribbon that floated along the entire panel which reacted to his touch – he moved his hands around it, having no idea what he was doing. He determined though that this control pit was the derelict's memory interface, as he had gotten up holographic star maps and what he believed resembled genetic sequences. Bishop would've loved to play with this. Maybe he even already had. A new twist above the board changed the whole scenery, and right now he was watching the ship's log. The vessel was definitely still active on some point, because he was looking at a holographic replay of himself and the 'Rawhides' when they were down here to retrieve the eggs on their first visit. He winced as he watched himself get struck in the face while having his arms locked in a grip by two other marines. He shut off the holographic scene as he knew what was going to happen next… been there, done that – he didn't need to see it again. But nothing of this was of any help to him at all. The scribblings on the controls could just as well have been Mayan hieroglyphs for all the good it did him. Hicks wasn't a linguist; there was no way for him to decipher all of these markings. He had no idea which button to push to get into the engine schematics to produce an overload – he doubted that he even had the time. The pain in his body was getting worse – soon he would hurt too much from the radiation poisoning to be able to do anything. He got out of the chair, deciding to look at the other revealed panels.

One side wasn't a station at all, it was just a ramp that had folded down. He had no idea what to make of the third quarter of the platform, the pop-upped section looking like a shrine or something. But the fourth quarter of the platform showed something interesting. At first glance it looked like a bunk that was covered by a clear hood, and he realized that it made sense. This was a starship, and what better to make time in a long-distance travelling vessel go by other than by passing the time sleeping in a hyper capsule?

Hicks wondered if he could make it work? It seemed like a good plan: he didn't have the time to figure out a way to destroy this ship, and he didn't like the idea of just sitting here waiting either to die from the radiation contamination or by having the parasite within him bursting out of his chest. But if he could put himself under in this alien sleeper pod, he might be able to sleep through his death and relieve himself from further agony – better yet: maybe it was a way to capture the queen, by freezing it. And that was the best way to protect Newt and the rest of the galaxy.

He examined the pod thoroughly and determined that he could make out enough of the configuration on how to start the freezing sequence. He couldn't figure out how to set a timer or something for an automatic wake-up though, but then again he wasn't looking to be re-animated. If this thing would hold him indefinitely, then the better – there would be nowhere for the queen to go, much less be able for it to get out. There was no point in delaying this… he had his plan – might as well go through with it.

By pressing a few of those weird jellylike buttons, Hicks charged up the pod. Another lever parted the hood covering the capsule, opening it up and became ready to admit him. Taking a deep breath to prepare himself, Hicks climbed into the pod. It was much bigger than other stasis capsules he was used to, as this design was meant to accommodate the larger species of the space jockey. There was something inside the pod that resembled a breathing mask. He slipped it over his face, thinking it was probably the right thing to do. Then he lay back and allowed the pod to do its work. The hood closed above him, sealing him inside. As he felt drowsiness overcome him, he came to think about the mask he put over his mouth… its design was made to fit over a human face. So how could a species with a snout wear it? But then sleep overtook him… _Gotcha, you little bitch!_ was his last though delivered to the queen larva within him.

* * *

Hicks awoke for what to him felt only like a few minutes afterwards. _What the hell?_ he thought angrily and in disappointment. _Didn't it work?_ He took of the mask, groaned, and attempted to rise up to take another look at the controls. Damn, how stale and sore his muscles felt. The radiation poisoning must be working faster now. He sat up, working to focus his gaze… and saw to his surprise that he wasn't alone. Two people were standing watching him, each carrying a rifle. Was it them that had interrupted his sleep?

"Who… who are you?" he slurred.

"That's the question we were about to ask you," one of the newcomers replied. "We're of the United Systems Military, special services under Supreme Commander Jacob McHagen."

"Never heard of him," Hicks mumbled, working to think. "Did you come here answering to the distress call?" He was thinking of the emergency beacon he had set the EEV up to transmit. "Did you find the lifeboat?"

"Let's just say that we're here attempting to pick up the pieces," the soldier said and reached down to help Hicks out of the capsule. Hicks recoiled from the outstretched hand.

"_Don't_ touch me!" he exclaimed. "I'm contagious… radiation poisoning!"

"And we're wearing hazmat suits," the other replied in a matter-of-factly tone as he and his partner took Hicks by the elbows and pulled him out. Of course they wore protection suits. Damn, his thoughts were so sluggish. A typical reaction from a period of long-term hibernation, he remembered. Then he really must've been out for a while. So why hadn't the radiation killed him yet? Then he remembered something else…

"No," he mumbled, trying to wrench free from the soldiers. "You must put me back… it's dangerous…"

"Don't worry, we'll take care of you," the soldier said.

"No, you don't understand… I'm carrying a deadly organism… this place is dangerous, you must leave! Destroy this place! It mustn't get out… we can't allow them to get free…!"

"Oh, don't worry," the soldier said again. "We know exactly how to deal with this." And then the other soldier slammed the butt of his rifle in Hicks' neck, knocking him unconscious.

* * *

When Hicks came to again, he found himself in a facility he had never seen before. It appeared to be a medical wing of some sort, judging from the sterile scent and the apparatus around him. And he was in a hospital bed, only his wrists as well as his torso were strapped down, preventing him from getting up. It was just like when he had been resuscitated onboard the _Hercules_, and he didn't like the idea of being treated like this again.

A male medical orderly on the other side of an observations window looked inside and saw that the patient was awake, and he disappeared out of sight. After three minutes, the orderly came into the room, together with a man who seemed to carry authority. The man was tall with thin hair, moustache and small, piercing eyes, and with a typical expression that wouldn't tolerate any nonsense. A career military officer. Hicks grew uncomfortable – the man reminded him too much of colonel Decker, the late commander of the 'Rawhides'. The new officer went straight to business.

"I'm Major Metzger. Your dog-tags identifies you as Corporal Dwayne Hicks, Id: A27/TQ4.0.48215E9. of the Colonial Marines. The official reports states that you perished in a crash-landing on Fiorina 161 in the year 2179."

"The official reports haven't exactly been up to date lately," Hicks mumbled in reply. He found no reason to deny anything at this point.

Metzger continued: "Through certain documents my superior officers obtained recently, we know that your body was retrieved from the planet of your death during an unsanctioned mission the year 2182 and that you were revivable thanks to some convenient technical circumstances. You're one damn lucky son-of-a-bitch, Corporal."

"Actually, I've decided that my resuscitation back then was more of a curse rather than a blessing," Hicks calmly shot back.

"Sadly, we have no data on what transpired during the _Hercules_' unsanctioned mission on LV-426," the officer continued without acknowledging the corporal's protests. "We were hoping that you could bring us up to date. For starters, what can you tell us of that stasis pod in the alien ship where we found you? How does it work? The technology sure surpasses any of our own cryo-stasis units by many millennia."

"I have nothing that I can tell you," Hicks said. "I'm no engineer, and I didn't bother to look more closely at it. It was actually by chance that I found it when I did."

"How did you know that it would preserve your life?" Metzger asked. "Or that it would have a peculiar effect on your condition for that matter? Did you know that the pod would halt all of your bodily processes completely?"

"I didn't know any of it… I expected to _die_ inside it. It did come to your attention that I'm suffering from radiation poisoning, I presume?"

"I'm certain you did," Metzger said cryptically. "The interesting part is that you're not anymore."

"What?!"

"You're cured," the medical orderly said for the first time. "There's no residual radiation left in you. It has all been sucked out and your deteriorated cells have been repaired. It's a medical miracle."

To say that Hicks was astonished by the news was an understatement. "How… how did you manage _that?_"

"We did nothing," the orderly said. "That was how you were found. The only explanation any of us can give is that the pod you were in works as a medical pod as well, possibly to maintain/renew the occupant's cells for an extended period of hibernation without allowing them to deteriorate. It's like you've were frozen in time while your cells were rejuvenated. Our own stasis pods can't do that – never in a long shot. What none of us can agree on though is how come it worked on you. An alien pod shouldn't be calibrated to handle your genetic structure, unless yours has the same ground-based DNA as the aliens who built it."

"I… have no answer to give on that," Hicks said. "I am human, that's for sure. So, if the pod cured me of the radiation… what of the organism that had invaded my body?"

"Oh, that? We took it out of you a few hours ago," the orderly said nonchalantly.

"You… took it out?!"

"Why so surprised? Certainly you didn't want to have that left in you?"

"But… I'm still _alive?!_ You can't remove it without killing me!"

"Good thing for you that you've got an artificial heart," the orderly explained. This was because Hicks' chest had been impaled by a support strut when crashing on Fiorina 161, killing him. The heart he'd been born with had been damaged beyond salvation, so the doctors onboard the _Hercules_ had given him an artificial one upon revival. His left lung was also a replacement.

"It works independently from the rest of your body. Fascinating thing about those creatures: once they're inside a host, it makes the body believe that the embryo is a vital part of the person carrying it – removing it either by surgery or by it being born, its absence will result in all of the other organs to shut down. But your artificial heart didn't 'get the message' when we removed the creature - it went on like it was functioned to do. That was a big help when we made your other organs to resume their functions afterwards. Why do you think we called you a damn lucky son-of-a-bitch?"

Hicks was starting to feel a sensation of unease in his gut. He should feel relieved that he was out of danger – but he had an uncomfortable suspicion of what was going on here.

"What did you do with it?" he demanded. "Did you kill it?"

Neither the orderly or colonel Metzger gave an answer to that question, and it confirmed Hicks' most suspected scenario. "You're _keeping_ it!" he spat angrily.

"Of course we are," Metzger said. "Obtaining that species has been our primary objective from the start."

"So despite all the death and destruction those creatures have caused, you still won't give it up!" Hicks was sickened. "So what's your angle in this now? What did Weyland offer the military to make you take on this madness of a quest? Wealth? Power?"

"Weyland?" Metzger cooked an eyebrow. "You're referring to the Weyland-Yutani company? They're no longer part of the equation. Michael Weyland's dead since a long time back, and his company with him."

Hicks was startled by this news. "Wait a minute… how _long_ was I in stasis?"

"Didn't we tell you? This is the year 2383. You've been napping for two centuries."

_Two centuries!_ Hicks could feel his head pounding from elevated blood pressure. This was not at all what he had in mind. Had there been no one coming to this planet since then? He thought about asking what had happened to the EEV in which he had escaped from the _Hercules_ in, but he decided that he didn't want to know. He didn't think he would be able to handle Newt's final fate after he had left her frozen in a hyper sleep capsule. Had she been rescued during the years that had passed – or had she been left there after the batteries had run dry, leaving her to die? Either way, she was most likely lost to him. He preferred to think that she had been rescued, that she had grown up and had a life. He would regret forever though that he had not been part of it, neither would he ever be free from the guilt of her demise.

* * *

Hicks was a prisoner during the weeks that followed. In that time, he had learned that there were in fact two facilities positioned on either side of the derelict, and he was in the one they referred to as the research tower where they bred the xenomorphs. He learned that the rest of the eggs onboard the derelict were all dead, succumbed by time as there was no protective field sustaining them after Bishop had shut it off during his investigations. Not that it made any difference since the military had the queen they had plucked out from him. The queen was to Hicks dismay completely fertile and was even now producing new eggs in captivity. What sickened Hicks the most was that the scientists brought in a shipload of prisoners on death sentence to serve as hosts. Maybe those guys were the scum of humanity and had committed horrible atrocities to warrant execution, but to use them like this… it made this brand of the military and their commander Jacob McHagen no better than them.

From time to time, interrogators would come into his cell with two guards and tried to get him to tell them what he knew about the aliens and what had happened onboard the _Hercules,_ but Hicks promptly refused to cooperate. He had laughed when he'd been told that the recovered dented flight-recorders that the salvage-teams had managed to find among the wreckage of the _Hercules_ had all turned out to have nothing of the ship's last mission recorded on them. Hicks wasn't a bit confounded by that: Michael Weyland had practically hijacked the marine cruiser against the jurisdiction of the colonial administration by sneakily taking control of the commander Colonel Decker who had been an android in secret. Absolute secrecy was a necessity with Weyland's obsession for the xenomorphs, so naturally he had instructed the colonel, one of his products, that no information what-so-ever was to go into the black boxes that could be used to incriminate him. The plan was that upon completion of the mission, everyone involved in the 'Rawhides' would be made to disappear… and that they did, but Weyland did not get his prize. Hicks did indeed know everything, but he refused to tell the interrogators any of it – not until they had given up their experiments with the aliens and destroyed them! That was Hicks' ultimatum. Not surprisingly at all, they wouldn't take the offer to heart.

The two guards accompanying the interrogators seemed to be permanently posted around him all the time. Their names were Galna and Forster, two grunts that reminded Hicks quite much of the two taunting marine morons of the 'Rawhides': Crabbe and Dagger. Each day they would sneer at him, telling him that he was a fool for thinking that the militia stationed there couldn't handle a bunch of stupid animals. They especially praised their commander Major Metzger, whom apparently was a combat veteran and who knew how to deal with certain crises. Hicks ignored their taunts, knowing that they would soon be aware of what they were really dealing with. Until then they would remain arrogant and dismissive of the danger Hicks had warned them of. They never wanted to hear it, again no surprise there. It was no surprise either to Hicks when the day came when the aliens broke out of their confinements and escaped. It was inevitable that they would.

Being locked in his cell, all Hicks could do was to listen to the clamoring of the personnel, the screams, and the gunfire. The slaughter had begun and there was nothing he could do to stop it. After a while though, the door to his cell opened. He half expected it to be an alien drone coming for him, but it turned out to be the two prison guards, who didn't look so overconfident anymore as they rushed inside.

"Okay," the soldier called Galna began speaking with a trembling voice, eyes looking wild. "You said you knew how to combat those creatures… how do we contain them?"

"I said no such thing," Hicks said calmly. "I urged you to destroy them before they broke loose."

"Well, they're loose…" Forster said, looking as nervous as his fellow soldier did. "Can't believe it tricked us like that!..."

"Tricked you how?" Hicks asked like he wasn't the least concerned for the situation.

"It… it looked like one of the specimens had died…" Galna said.

Hicks let out a bitter laugh. "Don't tell me they scammed you with the _oldest_ trick in the book?! You really _fell_ for the 'sick prisoner' trick?!"

"It had been laying completely still for three days… there was no indication of life… it had even begun to stink!"

"It had most likely gone into hibernation and waited for you to come to remove the remains. Probably it released a special stink secretion to deceive you. There are animals on Earth known to do that. Well, that's another ability you can add to their physiology. Your pen-keepers should have just burned it instead of going into that cell."

Forster still wasn't ready to accept it. "How would it know it would work? They're just _animals_…?

"I_ told_ you not to underestimate them. They're way smarter than you think."

"What do we do now?"

"Run for your lives," Hicks said in a matter-of-factly tone. "By now you're greatly outnumbered, and the last thing you want is to get captured by them. They'll do to you the same thing as you used those prisoners for."

The guards turned white in their faces. "You've got to help us!"

Hicks laughed again. "You want _my_ help? What does your Major Metzger do? I thought you said he could handle anything?"

"He's not here," Galna said dejectedly. "He's over at the command complex for a briefing." Galna was beginning to doubt that the major could do something anyway against a beast like this.

"And you come to _me_ for help?" Hicks scoffed. "Well, it's a little late for that now, isn't it? I told your superiors from the _start_ that you shouldn't pursue to breed this species." He felt anger overwhelm him now. "I _told_ you of the danger they posed, and you didn't _listen,_ because you're way too arrogant for your own good! Why the _hell _should I help you now?"

"Because now your life is at risk as well?" Forster tried.

"I made peace with my upcoming death long ago," Hicks said. "In fact I've already _been_ dead, so it doesn't frighten me anymore. I've had my fair share of those creatures, up to the point where I've quite _had_ it with them – them as well with all the stupid people who refuse to see reason! From my point of view, you've brought this upon yourself! Therefore you can clean up your own mess! Leave me out of it!"

The soldiers looked shocked. "Are you just going to _sit_ here and let the creatures destroy us?!"

"You got it," Hicks said nonchalantly. "You made your bed, now sleep in it!"

Forster tried another approach. "What about your commitment as a soldier to protect innocents?"

Hicks waved it off. "Those in league with a group of people looking to breed creatures that have time and time again brought nothing but death and destruction are not innocents in my eyes. They're as guilty as the next."

"You might want to reconsider that statement," Forster went on. "Here's the thing: When we first came here in the _Athena_, it was I and my buddy Bors that explored that alien ship where we found you… later I guided the retrieval team in there to revive you from that stasis pod…"

"I remember… you smacked the butt of your rifle in my neck. You think I'd be sympathetic to your ass for that?"

"When we woke you before that, I recall that you asked if we found a lifeboat - we did!"

Hicks' head instantly turned and focused on the soldier.

Forster dropped the bomb. "I haven't seen that lifeboat myself, but I know that a survivor was found frozen within it. A little child… a girl. She's connected to you, isn't she? As far as I know, she's still on ice – the commander doesn't want to wake her up, but she is there: in the other complex! If the aliens escape, then don't you think they will get to her as well?"

Hicks sprang up and grabbed Forster by his collar, his face flushed. "_You're lying!"_

"It's the truth! We were stranded here for weeks before the expedition arrived! How else would I know about it?"

"She's _here?_ Newt's _alive?_"

"Still frozen… at the other complex," Forster confirmed, stammering. "And it's at risk, unless we can contain the specimens. Will you help doing it?"

Angry, relieved, and concerned, Hicks let go of the other's collar. In the process of doing so though, he grabbed the weapon Forster was carrying. Hicks went through it quickly to familiarize himself with it. "If we are to do this," he said with venom in his voice, "…we're going to do it _my_ way! You'll follow _my_ lead!" He cocked the weapon, standing battle-ready. "If you got a problem with that, speak up now, or be silenced from here on! Are we clear on that?"

Both Forster and Galna nodded. "Whatever you say! We just wanna survive this! It's clear! You're free to do whatever you want! As far as we're concerned, you're the boss-man now!"

* * *

From that day, Hicks found himself leading an 'underground' group of resistance fighters in the alien-infested research tower. The small band gathered as many survivors they could find, and they barricaded themselves within a shielded section of the facility where the aliens couldn't find their way inside. The little band of rebels had to work in secrecy as they knew that Jacob McHagen and his staff would not approve of them planning to wipe out their precious specimens. They had to make the personnel in the habitat complex believe that everyone in the research tower were dead.

Under a great risk, Hicks' team scavenged what they could find in equipment, supplies, and portable computers which they needed to set up their own little command center in their shelter. Not all of them always made it back with the aliens scurrying around like they did - it was only thanks to Hicks' weird ability to somehow feel the whereabouts of the xenomorphs that they managed to pull off the salvage operations without losing too many people. The hardware of computers they'd collected were not sophisticated enough to hack into any of the encrypted files the military staff kept in their banks at the habitat complex, but they were able to monitor in- and outgoing signals that were transmitted through the satellite dish as it was mounted on top of the tall tower or the research facility.

From time to time, McHagen would send an expedition of soldiers in an attempt to recapture the loose specimens and drive them back into the pens. Everybody knew that the soldiers that were coerced into that mission were sent to their doom. Each time a team was dropped off, Hicks did what he could to save them and bring them to the shelter. It didn't always succeed: he only managed to get one or two to safety each time, while on one occasion he couldn't save anybody at all. And with each failure, one more xenomorph would be born. For weeks, the situation was at a standstill as they lacked the resources they needed to set the strike that would eradicate the aliens – they couldn't advance, and they couldn't back down. The standstill was taking on everybody's toll as they needed to remain in constant vigilance, but the morale was sinking as it started to look like a hopeless case. They desperately needed a new variable…

Things changed from bad to worse when the massive storm hit them. As if it wasn't bad enough that the powerful winds and lightning killed their power, making them blind to the little surveillance they had to the aliens and for monitoring any transmissions, but McHagen had also out of the blue sent a new busload of 'volunteers' to the tower to deal with the xenomorphs. It was troublesome – not only for the risk of more aliens being conceived, but because Hicks felt that they couldn't take any more people to their shelter. The reason for this was because their food-supply was running dangerously low. They had been at their little rogue operation for months, and ever since the aliens had escaped and taken over the research tower, no stocks of sustenance had been replenished.

Still there was but little choice: the storm turned out have trapped not only the new 'volunteers', but the transport bus as well. Hicks realized that there was a strategic value to secure it and prevent it from going back. With the internal sensors down thanks to the power-loss, it was deemed to be too high of a risk to leave the shelter with the aliens scurrying the complex – going out there to secure the newcomers would have to be completely voluntary. Hicks wasn't a man who would send the men he was responsible for on a mission he himself wasn't willing to do… and with his ability to feel the whereabouts of the xenomorphs, he decided that he would go out alone. He stood a better chance of making it back than what the others did.

Clad in a protective gear complete with a helmet, (which would be quite inadequate should he run into an alien,) Hicks made his way to the garage. He grew wary of the people he found there. Although there were some new soldiers, half of the newcomers were outlaws, most likely the surviving crew of that unidentified space craft that had come in the day before which had been shot down. They weren't exactly the kind of people who would be good team-players. Still there was the matter that Hicks had no qualified engineers at his disposal among the people he had already saved. Most of them only had the basic field-training in engineering, but none had a master's degree, and he needed power to the tower back. If any of these newcomers had the ability to do that, then he would provide them with shelter.

As luck would have it, the crew of the downed ship did manage to restore power, which left the matter of getting back to the shelter unharmed to be the final challenge. It was weird that they had managed to avoid contact with the aliens for as long as they had, but Hicks was certain that luck was about to run out for them. The aliens were not stupid – they would know that the power had been restored by the work of humans, so Hicks expected that there would be a pack of xenomorphs heading in their direction. Halfway back to the safehouse on the ground floor, he really grew concerned. There was a presence in the back of his mind that he didn't recognize, an entity unknown to him. He didn't tell this to the pirates or the marines though, he wouldn't expect them to understand. Hicks needed to go on ahead – he needed a solitude place to think, to identify this new sensation. He told the others that he needed to check the perimeter and that they should stay there and remain quiet until he got back. There was much distrust voiced, especially from the younger runt of a pirate, the one named Ryan. Now there was one he really wished he could leave behind.

Hicks' moment of solitude didn't provide him with any answers though – he felt a presence, but he couldn't categorize it. Worse even, he was definitely sure now that the aliens were on their way. He would have to think about this later - it was time to move. Going back to where he had left the newcomers, he grew most displeased of hearing an argument going on. What was it about noise discipline that was so hard to uphold? He was about to tell them off as he rounded the corner… and discovered that one more person, a woman, had joined the group from somewhere. He became startled as he realized that _she_ was the presence he felt in the back of his mind, and as he gazed to make out the female behind this curious sensation, he became confused as he thought he recognized this new person. She really remined him of…

_No! It couldn't be… It was __**impossible!**_

He rushed forward to grab her shoulder and he spun her around to get a good look at her. There were no mistake in her features.

"_You?!…_" he gasped in total shock. Before he knew it, Hicks was suddenly shoved into the wall by the other, but he was so stunned by the revelation of the woman's identity that he was hardly aware of that he was being overpowered. Instead he quickly removed his helmet to show her who he was.

"This is unbelievable…" he said. "You're supposed to be _dead_, Ripley!"

Her reaction of seeing him took him aback. She hardly seemed to register it. She only cooked an eyebrow as she released him and spoke without any emotion as if it was no big deal this reunion.

"Likewise, Hicks," she said nonchalantly.


	21. and into the fire

"Is that _all_ you've got to say?!" Hicks burst out, feeling insulted.

"You wanted more?" the woman said impassively.

"I would've expected a little more from you, yeah, considering how we parted ways!"

"That was a long time ago," the entity whom unknowingly to the corporal was the dominating personality in the woman body replied. "Things have changed – more than you realize."

"Apparently so," Hicks admitted, watching the woman all over. This was not at all the Ripley he had come to admire after their first meeting 200 years earlier. She radiated an aura that had no similarity to the person of that time. Ellen Ripley had been a warm and gentle person, but at the same time a determined fighter as she was repulsed by the greed of the Company whom had been willing to sacrifice human lives for the sake of profit. She had been naturally frightened by the aliens, but still incredibly brave.

The Ripley standing before him was one he didn't know. She seemed cold, distant, and even somewhat vile. She made him think of her more like an alien rather than a human-being. He had no idea how close to the truth he was. It looked like her, but it wasn't Ellen Ripley… it was Raksha: her dark-side personality from the alien queen who had infested her body and had been blended with her during the cloning-process that had resurrected her.

"I don't suppose you'd like to tell me how you ended up here 200 years after our time? How you came to be like this?"

"Not really," Raksha replied shortly. Her first interest of him had quickly passed. He was, like the rest of them, insignificant to her. He would make a perfect host to her children, whose presences were beginning to feel even stronger now. She smiled and stretched out with her feelings, attempting to make contact, summoning them.

"What are you doing?" Hicks asked her, looking alarmed.

"I could ask you the same question," Johner said impatiently. "Why are we just standing around here? Weren't you supposed to bring us someplace, soldier boy?"

"Something is wrong…" Hicks cautioned. He too was listening to their surroundings. He could hear scratching sounds to smooth surfaces. "I think that it may be already too late! We took too long! They're _here!_"

"Ah, _crap!_" Johner managed to blurt out before the ceiling exploded, raining both debris and several monstrous shapes down onto the floor. Nightmare bodies rose to their full heights displaying inhuman appendages, massive scorpion tails and silvery teeth that drooled mucus. The marine soldiers gasped, never knowing what kind of creatures their bosses had been breeding here. But now as they saw the result of the project, the idea of doing so immediately discouraged them. Andersson who had seen the cartoon warning on the disc beforehand, and therefore being aware of the danger the creatures posed, screamed like a frightened child. As did Zack Ryan. He and the Felger twins had up until now only heard stories about the aliens, but they had never actually seen one in real life before. The horrors about them were more than they could ever have imagined.

Zack Ryan had always considered Ripley's banter about the aliens to be a hoax and had dismissed her quest to track down the beasts to be of a woman's stupidity who couldn't set her priorities straight. But now he screamed with a high-pitched shriek as he saw the attacking behemoths. It was more than he could handle. He bolted, thinking only of his own safety. Ryan barely had time to rush around a corner before the floorplate he had just crossed flew up and revealed yet another creature coming up from below. Ryan screamed some more and ran faster, leaving his comrades behind. He had no intention of risking his life for any of them.

Hicks, Raksha, and the rest of the crew of the _Betty_ together with the four soldiers were quickly surrounded. One of the aliens charged against the group of humans, but was instantly knocked back by a burst released from Hicks's rifle. Acid blood spilled on the floor, aggravating the rest of its kin. "Fight!" Hicks screamed. "Fight for your lives!"

"NO!" a voice called above the chaos. "_Don't shoot!_ I _forbid_ you to harm them!"

"Are you out of your mind, woman?" Johner raged as he shot another lounging creature. "You _came_ here to kill them, didn't you?"

The demon showed Johner's rifle out of the way. Ignoring his swearing protests, she positioned herself between the group of humans and the advancing aliens. "Halt, my children!" she called. "Halt and listen to me!"

To everybody's astonishment, the aliens suddenly did stop, focusing their attention to the woman. The humans stopped shooting as well.

"That's right," Raksha said with a victorious glee. "See me. See me for who I am… for I am in truth your _mother!_"

"What the hell is she _doing?_" Hicks sputtered all confused.

"Stretch out with your feelings," Raksha continued. "Look inside my mind – see me, for I am one of you… and more!"

The aliens remained still, regarding the woman with curiosity. They felt a kinship to this one, but they couldn't understand what it was or how it could be.

Raksha continued to stretch out her mind, connecting it to the crowd of aliens who stood watching her, trying to comprehend the significance of the empathic connection that had just been made. But Raksha wanted more – the connection needed to go deeper, to fully make them understand who she was. She was seeking a telepathic contact, so that she could speak to them directly, mind to mind. She stretched out, touching the lead alien with her thoughts to the alpha alien's mind… and she smiled in triumph as she felt him letting her in.

Raksha stepped closer to the alien. "Come on," she whispered. "Come to me. You know me. Feel my love… that's it." The alien stepped closer as well. They were now so close that they could touch each other.

"That's it," Johner muttered. "She's gone bonkers now." They all kept watching, humans and aliens alike, to see how this developed – their nerves all on the very edge. All it needed was one wrong move to allow hell to break loose.

Raksha raised her hands, and touched the elongated head, stroking its sides. She showed them the need she felt, for the warmth and safety of the crèche, and for the love of her own kind. The alien almost cooed in response, understanding the desire. Raksha promised them that they would have it all, because she loved them. She was after all their queen, their mother, as she was the first womb of them all - the keystone of the brood.

But here was where Raksha's arrogance and desire had made her mistake: she was not _their_ first womb! That had been a _different_ nest, the one that had been built aboard the _Auriga!_ The aliens she attempted to approach here was from a _different_ branch, spawned from somewhere else. These aliens didn't feel the same kind of genetic connection to her as the ones aboard the _Auriga_ had. They may be feeling the mind of a queen, but the body was that of a soft prey - a _human!_ And a human to them was nothing but food or a host, _not_ a mother! The very thought of it repulsed the aliens, a feeling they didn't like at all. This 'queen' was impure – an abomination! The alpha alien suddenly lashed out with a clawed hand which knocked the woman away, sending her flying.

Raksha landed in a heap in front of the small band of men. The hard punch would've killed an ordinary human, but because of the alien physiology in her genetic make-up, she had endured it. But her expression was one of a complete and utter shock. "They… they _rejected_ me!" she sputtered in disbelief.

The aliens hissed, shaking themselves out of their stupor the false mother had caused them. That was the cue for the humans to open fire again. And because the aliens had been temporarily disorganized, Hicks actually managed to clear out an opening right through the monsters with his rifle which allowed them a path to escape.

"Let's go! Move!" Hicks called out as he grabbed on to the woman's arm, pulled her up and showed her in front of him. "What the hell were you thinking?!" he raged at her as he pushed her along. But Raksha didn't answer, as she had not gotten her senses back together from the harsh response she'd received from her 'children'. "They rejected me…!" she could only mumble in her state of shock.

With guns blazing, the humans rushed out of the circle of aliens, blowing more of the monsters away on the way through. Survival was the only thing that mattered now, so Hicks had no way of keeping the group together – it was every man for himself. Hicks could hear somebody scream behind him, knowing that at least one of them had just been taken. There was nothing he could do about it - he just kept running, now dragging the woman with him instead of pushing.

As he rounded a corner, he took a short moment to glance behind him. Some of the aliens were pursuing them, but there was no sign of the rest of the group. Either they had rushed in another direction, or they had been captured as well – Hicks couldn't tell which. He raised the muzzle of his rifle and blasted the lead alien, making it fall – then he kept running. He was running back the way they originally had come.

"There's an elevator up ahead," he told the woman he was still pulling along. "We'll try to lose them by going to another floor." He received no reply - she seemed to be totally out of it. Reaching the elevator, Hicks quickly punched the call-button, thanking higher spirits that they had recently used the lift earlier so that it was still waiting for them on this floor. The doors opened immediately, ready to admit them. The woman didn't move though – she looked like she had lost her bearings completely.

"Snap out of it, will ya?" Hicks showed the confused woman inside, following after her and hit the button for the top floor of the tower. To his chagrin, the double doors didn't react. He hit the button again in frustration, thinking that there was something disturbingly familiar about the whole thing. Finally, the doors began to close, but before they sealed entirely, two inhuman hands came in between and began to pry the doors apart again, and a drooling monstrous head peered through the opening.

"Goddammit!" Hicks cursed and blew the alien away with his weapon. Knowing exactly what to expect since he had been through it all before, he ducked back against the wall as a geyser of acid blood sprayed through doors, but none of it was hitting the passengers. The doors began to close again now that the alien was out of the way. "Don't you also get a feeling of déjà vu here?" he asked the other.

Hicks saw that the woman was still in a state of shock, but now of a different kind. Her eyes were widely open and completely fixed on him as if she was seeing a ghost, and from her point of view it was an exact description.

"Hicks!" she gasped. "How in _heavens name_ can you be _alive?!_"

"Oh, _now_ you're finally catching on?" he couldn't help but to snarl in irritation as the car began to ascend.

"But… you _died!_ I had your body _cremated!_"

Hicks didn't have an opportunity to give a reply to that fact. The acid that had sprayed into the car had now eaten through the floor, and through the holes they could hear how the elevator doors was knocked into the shaft below them, and then the car rocked and strained, as if another weight had just been added to it – and it had.

"Two of them are hanging on to the undercarriage!" Hicks burst out.

The woman looked at him. "How can you tell it's two?" She only reacted to it because it was her conclusion as well.

"Because that's how many minds I'm picking up," Hicks replied.

"How can you feel their minds?"

"I could ask you the same thing!"

"I've changed since the last time we saw each other."

"So have I."

They both jumped as a clawed hand suddenly broke through the floor. The steel plates which made the undercarriage of their car were severely weakened in the structural integrity thanks to the acid, and the aliens were using that weakness to punch through. The elevator wasn't moving fast enough. Hicks aimed his rifle at the inhuman hand to shoot it off - but as he pulled the trigger, it only clicked. He cursed their bad luck as he saw why the weapon malfunctioned: the acid blood of the alien he'd blown away from the doors hadn't hit any of them, but a drop had spilled on his rifle, right on the casing in which the hammer mechanism of the weapon's firing system was located underneath. The acid had eaten though the casing and dissolved the whole thing.

"Shit!" Hicks spat as he threw the useless rifle to the side. The alien hand was ripping off a large section of the floor. "We're sitting ducks here!"

"Up! We have to go up!" the woman urged. "The service hatch!" There was a closed maintenance access in the roof of the car. Hicks cupped his hands, using his arms as a makeshift step to allow the female to set her foot in it and reach up to the hatch to push it open. He straightened his body and heaved the other further up so that she could find the leverage with her arms to crawl up through it on her own. Once she was through and on top outside of the still rising car, she leaned back in, reaching a hand down to pull the soldier up. They managed to get out just in time before the aliens had made a hole big enough to crawl inside the car through the floor. The humans were not out of danger yet – the monsters would come through the roof next.

"You don't think you could just tell them to leave us alone?" Hicks said sarcastically.

"They wouldn't listen to Raksha, so there's no way they would listen to me!"

"Who is Raksha?"

"My alter ego. Look, there's no way I can easily explain it, but she's no longer in control. I am!"

"What?"

"What you saw down there wasn't me, it was Raksha! But she lost control when the aliens rejected her. It's me now – it's Ellen!"

"You're not making any sense!" Just then they felt the surface they were standing on shake as the behemoths inside the car were beginning to punch on the roof. "But I suppose it doesn't matter right now. How're we going to get away from those damn critters?"

"We're going to have to dislodge them," Ripley said cryptically. She leaned over the center of the roof of the elevator car, where the strongpoints were hooked on to the two sets of cables that were carrying the entire contraption. There were a lot of rough edges up here on the top of the car as the area was not meant to occupy any passengers. Ripley found a suitable edge that had enough sharpness in it to cut her hand on. Drawing her blood in her palm, she smeared the red fluid onto the strongpoints the cables were connected to.

"Get ready to grab hold onto the cables!"

"What are you doing?" Hicks asked.

"There's no time to explain – just trust me!"

They had almost reached the top floor of the tower, but Hicks knew that the aliens would get to them before that. Already there were sections of the roof-panels disappearing from underneath their feet as the relentless critters were working their way through. But he swore that he could also sense the acrid smell of dissolving materials. As he looked at the source of the smell, he saw that the strongpoints were weakening… _disintegrating_! But the aliens hadn't done anything to that section? That's where Ripley had smeared her…?

"Ripley? Y-your blood?! It's like… _theirs!"_

"Remember I said that I've changed? I've changed a _lot!_"

"But how can you…?"

"No time! Grab on to the cables… NOW!" The woman's determination shook Hicks back into reality and he grabbed on to the other cable and began to climb up after the woman whom was working her way up along the first one. Just then the aliens broke through the second barrier which kept the hunters separated from their prey. Claws like steel raked over the sole of Hicks's foot as the alien climbed up on top of the car through the newly made hole. The second alien wasn't far behind.

The creature made for another grab. It would have succeeded, had not the weakened strongpoints of the car given away. The thick cables on which the humans were hanging on lashed violently as they came loose, threatening to shake the two off. The elevator car itself had nothing else to hold on to. It tumbled back down the shaft in a free fall, taking the two monstrous passengers with it. What neither Ripley nor Hicks knew were that a couple of more aliens were climbing up the shaft from below, determined to not let the prey get away. They hissed in alarm as they sensed the elevator car coming back down towards them in an unstoppable one-way ride. The falling lift knocked them loose and gravity now carried them all down the shaft until they came to a sudden violent stop at the bottom, crashing into the floor and then getting squashed by the loose car. The crash resonated through the shaft in a loud bang, and even shaking the whole building in the process – and then all was quiet.

The motor winch that previously had operated the elevator had short-circuited when the electricity to the car had been violently severed, so the humans were not carried upwards anymore. But they were in a new danger now… they were hanging by a couple of thick slippery cables above an abyss as they were near the top section of the high tower. They were hanging between the two top floors – but they couldn't reach any of the doors leading out to them. The cables were too heavy and dense and wouldn't allow them to swing closer to the sides. But the shaft was all too smooth anyway, there were no handles of any kind to grab on to should they attempt to jump, and the supportive beams above them that carried the 'crane' was not built with enough crawlspace to climb up on top through. They couldn't go up and they couldn't go down. They couldn't go anywhere.

"I think we just got out of the frying pan and into the fire," Hicks commented, feeling afraid. They were hanging like two monkeys from a pair of vines, but Hicks was no monkey. Already he could feel his hands protesting as the rough threads of the slippery metal cable cut into the skin in his palms. His muscles were also quickly tiring from the strain of hanging there. The military training program did include rope-climbing, but with the affairs of the aliens, he hadn't been able to keep up to his practice for a long time. His muscles had grown weak, he would never be able to hold on forever. He doubted that he would even make it for five minutes.

"You figured a way out of this or are we in big trouble?" he asked the woman.

"We're in big trouble," Ripley replied, typically not sounding as tired as he felt, but at least just as concerned.


	22. Angels and demons

"This was not how I imagined my day," Hicks grumbled, trying not to think of how much his arms screamed for liberation and how the rough cable continued to cut into his hands. He could feel it shredding his palms, drawing blood and thus making the cable even more slippery. It was only his self-preservation that gave him the strength to hold on a while longer.

"Don't worry, Hicks, I'll get you out of this," Ripley said. She didn't have so much of a problem as Hicks did as the alien part of her genetic structure helped her to endure a situation like this. Even her hand had already healed.

The soldier laughed bitterly. "Sorry Ellen, but I don't think that you're in any better position than me to guarantee your word for it." He choked back a sob that threatened to reveal how much his arms hurt – than he decided to throw his pride for the wind. "HELP! CAN ANYBODY HEAR US? WE NEED SOME HELP IN HERE!"

"Save your breath, Hicks. This is the alien holding building. The creatures have without a doubt already picked off everybody that ever worked here."

"Except for the survivors I have stashed away in my secret hide-out… unfortunately they're all further down the floors – they can't hear us."

"I'm sorry…" Ripley then said, her tone sounding more at loss. "I acted irrationally… I didn't think we would end up this way."

"On the other hand, none of us could have ever imagined that we would bump into each other again like this… for all the good it did us."

"Don't even think it!" Ripley suddenly burst out.

"Think what?"

"You're thinking of letting go, but don't you _dare!_"

"How would you know what I think?"

"Something's changed about you too… I don't know what, but I can sense some of your instincts! This is no time to give up!"

"Ripley, I'm tiring quickly! I can't hang on like this forever."

"Shape up, soldier! That's an order!"

Hicks laughed again. "Soldier? That was a lifetime ago… and even back then, you couldn't give me any orders. You're just a civilian!"

"Just try to hang on for a while longer…" Ripley urged.

"To what end? You think there's a way out? Have you ever been in a situation like this before?"

"I was trapped in another shaft about a year and a half ago… me and my crew, the ones you saw back there. An accomplice of mine did come for us when it all looked bad and got us out." Ripley regretted saying it the moment the last syllable had left her mouth. She was thinking of when Call had gotten them out of the shaft aboard the _Auriga_, just before it was revealed that she was a robot. But Call was dead – her inert body left in the wreckage of the _Betty_. How could she even imagine that her synthetic friend would come to her help now? Such stupid thinking.

"Nice try," Hicks groaned. "But you don't believe in miracles. After what you've been through with the creatures, I can't imagine you give any hopes to last minute-rescues."

"You know me too well," Ripley muttered.

Hicks shut his eyes, preparing himself. From this height, death would be instantaneous. Why postpone it? There was no way out of this. Better to end it now than to suffer his arms even more. He took a deep breath, summoning the best memory he could find in his subconsciousness, intending to keep it with him on his way down. Just let go, it would be over quickly. One… two…thr…

"What is that?" Ripley then asked. There was a small light-show within the shaft, coming from a bit above them.

Hicks looked. There were sparks coming from an electric partition panel beside the elevator doors leading to the top floor above them. Strange time for the panel to short-circuit, if that was indeed what was going on. And then the doors to the top floor began to part – they were opening! Hicks and Ripley were looking on – liberation was so close, but still so far away. As they were hanging above an abyss with no solid ground underneath, they would never be able to jump up that distance. Why had the doors even opened? Was somebody there? There was no one in sight though, just a shadow moving. Could it be an alien coming for them?

"Hello?" Hicks called. What did he have to lose? "Is somebody there?"

Something suddenly came into view at the open doors. But instead of seeing the devilish creatures, Hicks saw an angel. A dirty one, clad in torn red clothes, but an angel none the less – one he hadn't expected at all to see there.

"_Hicks?!_ Is that _you?!"_ a young voice called full of surprise.

"_Newt?!_ By gosh, is it really _you?!"_ He was astonished, but still incredibly overjoyed.

"You… you're still _alive?!_" the child called down the shaft. "How?"

"That's a story I'd be more than happy to tell you, sweetie, but we're in a bit of a bad situation here right now! You think you can find us a rope or something?"

"A rope?" The girl looked taken aback. "I.. I have no rope, but…" She looked behind her. "Wait, I think I got an idea! Hang on!" And then she disappeared out of sight.

"That's about all we can do, right now," Hicks said silently under his breath, having found the strength to hold on for a while longer now when there was a bit of hope.

"It… it really _is_ her?!" Ripley said with a trembling voice. "It's not just a trick made up by McHagen? It truly is _her?_"

"She was with me and Bishop when the Company picked us up from that prison planet we crash-landed on," Hicks explained, glad of the distraction.

"But… you _died_ in that crash_!_ I had your bodies _burned!_"

"Oh, that. The warden tricked you, Ripley – what you saw being dropped into the furnace weren't our remains. I'm told that the body bags were actually stuffed full with scrap."

"_What?!_"

There were sounds coming from the corridor through the open set of elevator doors, but he couldn't connect them to anything specific. But he put his trust in Newt, knowing that she was fully aware of the danger they were in and that she would do anything to help them. A short moment later she came into view again, dragging something with her.

"Here! Grab hold to this!" And then she threw a long leather-like stripe at them. It wasn't until Hicks caught it between his legs, feeling the weight that he realized that the child had opened a firehose-compartment, uncoiled the hose and had thrown them the nozzle-end to climb up with.

"Child!" Hicks called. "Honey, you're a _genius!_"

"Save the sweet-talk and climb!" Newt shot back.

Even though his hands and arms were in tremendous pain, he managed to catch on to the hose lifting it clenched between his knees. But the chevalier part of him then came into effect. "Go, Ripley… take it and climb."

"This is no time to play the gentleman, Dwayne! I still got some strength left in me to hang on for a while longer. Get out of here, and don't argue!" In truth, Ripley wanted to remain behind because she was extremely terrified. Not of her hanging over the abyss, but of facing Newt. What was she going to say to the child? How was she going to explain what had happened, and why she had done it? She loved the girl so and had never wanted to hurt her. But she knew that she had. Could the child ever forgive her? But how could she when not even Ripley herself could forgive her own actions she'd done to the young.

Grabbing on to the hose as best as he could, Hicks let go of the slippery steel cable and let himself fall sideways to the side of the shaft, hanging from the 'lifeline'. He slammed into the wall, absorbing the impact with his feet. Then he started to work his way up the hose. The problem was that he was out of strength, the pain in his arms were unbearable and his hands were slippery with blood as his palms had been cut by the rough wire in the cable. He wasn't sure if he would make it.

"Come on, Hicks," Newt urged him. "You can do it!"

But Hicks couldn't. The pain was so tremendous now that he was beginning to pass out. His sight was turning dark, and he could feel his hands slipping down the hose. This was a battle he would lose.

"Don't lose it now, Dwayne!" Ripley told him. But Hicks was slipping out of consciousness.

"_Dad!_ Don't give up now!" Newt suddenly said.

_Dad?_

"Come on now, _climb!_ You can do it, Daddy!"

Hicks didn't know if it was just a trick or if the child really felt that way about him - but it worked. Biting back the pain and summoning the very last of his reserves, he managed to climb all the way up to the edge of the floor. There the child leaned down, grabbing on to his arm to help him up the last bit with every ounce of strength that she had, taking leverage at the doorpost with her smaller body so that she wouldn't be dragged into the shaft by the weight of his adult mass. And together, man and child managed to pull him over the edge, to the freedom and safety of the floor. Hicks slumped on the deck on his back, feeling the relief of liberation from the strain sweep over him. Newt kneeled beside the man to check on him – and that's when he grabbed on to her tiny frame and pulled her down to his chest where he embraced her, hugging her tightly. "Do you have any idea how happy I am to see you again, sweetheart?" he croaked into her ear.

"I can imagine," she giggled in reply, feeling teary-eyed.

Then Hicks began to feel around the girl's torso as he noticed how her bones were well prominent underneath her clothing. "Good heavens, child, you're so _thin!_ Haven't you been eating?!"

"Never mind _that_," she felt a little indignant and shot back with a scold of her own. "What were you doing hanging over a hole like that? You as an adult should know how dangerous that is?"

Hicks let out a chuckle for the child's words. A logical grown-up statement delivered with a youth's temperament. That was Newt's personality trademark.

"You're absolutely right, honey, that was crazy," he told her. "And we need to get Ripley out of there as well. You think you can throw the nozzle to…" Hicks didn't get to finish as they heard a crack from the shaft and they both saw how the fire-hose leaping out through the doorway was snapped taut by a sudden weight.

"Oh, she managed herself," Hicks noted. "You did see who it was, didn't you?"

"Yes," she replied in a tight voice. She rose to her feet, but not to get over to the doorway. Instead she walked away further down the corridor. Unlike Hicks, Ripley climbed the hose with a remarkable ease, and the woman crawled up onto the floor just in time to see the girl disappear behind a corner.

"You all right?" The question was directed to Hicks, but her gaze was plastered towards the direction the girl had disappeared.

The man groaned. "I'll live, but that ordeal took quite a heavy toll on me. I've been fighting to stay awake, but I can't hold out for much longer… I need to go wimpy for a moment and pass out." He raised a warning finger. "Give her space, Ripley! Approach on _her_ terms! She took the incidents that happened on Fiorina _very_ hard!" And then he fainted, exhaustion overwhelming him. Ripley didn't bother to check on him, as she knew that he just needed to sleep it off for a while. She had other priorities…

With light steps, Ripley rounded the corner. Newt hadn't gone far… she was sitting on a ledge of the floor that dropped to a lower level, like a stair. Why the floor was designed like that Ripley didn't know, as it seemed unpractical. It served excellent as a low bench to sit on though. Newt's back was turned to the woman and the adult could see the child's shoulders shake. She was crying. Ripley wanted to do nothing else but to pick her up, hug her to her body to comfort her and never again letting go - but she resisted the urge. Reluctantly she admitted to herself that Hicks was right – after everything that had happened, contact had to be made on the girl's terms. Therefore the adult only sat down beside the child, doing nothing except waiting in silence for an acknowledgment from her.

Newt didn't turn her head, she just stared ahead of her – but she could feel the woman's eyes on her. The girl was very confused right now: feeling both happiness and anger for the adult's presence, longing for a comforting arm, all while knowing that she would be repulsed if the other attempted it. She sniffled, feeling another tear rolling down her cheek before she finally found the strength to address the woman, but still staring ahead.

"You said… you said… you wouldn't _l-leave_ me!"

"_They_ wouldn't let me make that choice, baby," Ripley replied in a voice that was nearly as broken as hers.

"I thought you loved me..." Newt mumbled.

"That has _never_ been false," the adult quickly delivered. "I have loved you from the first moment I ever laid my eyes on you – and I never stopped!"

"Then, why'd… you do it?" Ripley knew that the child wasn't referring to their separation, but to the autopsy. The girl felt violated, and for good reason. She had suffered tremendous pain because of it after her resuscitation.

"If I had the power to take it back, I would. I never wanted to hurt you. But you have to understand… there was no way for me to know that you were still alive! I thought you were…" Ripley didn't want to utter the last word.

Newt did understand though. "I was," she said lowly.

"I still can't believe that you're actually _here_, the two of you. After I lost you, I… I haven't been myself since then. It's like… I'm waking up from a dark dream where someone else was in control. The pain I felt for losing you after the crash was so great that I… I couldn't handle it. I turned inside out to shut it out… and it made me act irrational. I did things I normally wouldn't have done… god damn, I have been _crazed!_"

She certainly had done some irrational things: all of the sudden she was overwhelmed with guilt for what she had done to the people working at Wal-Mart. The shame was so powerful that it hurt her stomach. But it wasn't there her wrong behavior had begun… Just like she'd told the girl, it went all the way back to that prison facility on Fiorina 161. One of those recollections suddenly jumped out above everything else – the affair with Clemens! What the hell was she _thinking_ back then, _sleeping_ with him out of the blue like that?! Perhaps she had simply sought companionship to make up for her loneliness, but that didn't stop her from thinking that she must've been deranged!

Ripley shook off the uncomfortable memory, but only to have it replaced by another – and this wasn't a memory. A nasty voice suddenly boomed in the back of her head, a voice from the depths of her darker side. Raksha had gotten over her initial shock of being rejected by the aliens, and now she wanted to resume her position as the dominant personality.

\- _Never mind your past, and never mind __**her!**__ She isn't necessary! Kill her, and then we will get back to…_ But Raksha didn't get any further than that in her ranting, as Ripley suddenly sent a mental surge through her mind which effectively and forcefully threw the demon inside her head backwards, back into the depths of her dark abyss.

_Get away from her, you __**bitch!**_ Ripley roared with her mind at the demon. _You may have been able to influence me on previous matters, but not where it concerns her! You will never touch __**her! **_Ripley could feel how Raksha had gone into shock once more, having been rejected again. With another mental shove, Ripley pushed the demon further back into her dark realm - something she had never been able to do before.

Ripley now looked back at Newt, who in turn still wouldn't look at her. The child had no idea what had just occurred in Ripley's mind. Another change had definitely now come over the woman – but one that for once was for the better. The child's presence, as well as Hicks', had brought forth the _real_ essence of the person she used to be, before she lost herself at Fury 16. After two centuries, the _true_ Ellen Ripley was back. Now if only she could fully get Newt back as well. Not only because of the love the woman felt for the girl, but because she _needed_ her. Newt gave Ripley the leverage she needed to overcome Raksha, preventing the demon from taking control again.

"I won't ask you for forgiveness," Ripley said to the child. "But I want you to know that it will forever be my greatest shame… if it hadn't been for that accursed alien the queen planted aboard the ship… things could have been so different…"

It was true. Newt understood this better than anybody. The aliens had ruined her whole life, destroyed her colony, killing her family… if it hadn't been for the monsters, things would definitely have been different. That _was_ extenuating circumstances! She finally looked up at the adult.

"You thought it was in me... that I was infested with it."

Ripley nodded. "That was the whole reason why I did it. It certainly looked like you had been attacked, and I didn't want to leave it in you, to let it violate you further… but I was wrong. Instead it was _I_ who got it. The worst part is that I deep down knew it all along… but I denied it until a bio-scan confirmed it."

Newt sighed, letting out a breath. "If you knew, then why'd did you think it was me?"

"There was an acid-burn on the side of your tube," Ripley explained. "I'm not sure how it got there, but I…" But then Ripley stopped herself. A hidden memory had been triggered, something that was related to the whole incident aboard the _Sulaco_.

"What?" Newt asked.

"I smelled your breath right now…" Ripley mumbled.

"What? Is it bad?"

"No, no… but it has significance. There was something about it…" Ripley had a flashback – back to Newt's cryo-tube aboard the _Sulaco_. But how could Ripley recall that? She was sleeping in her own tube back then, totally oblivious to what was going on around her! Then she realized the truth…

This was _Raksha's_ memories she was seeing! All aliens had passed-down knowledge from their ancestors – and because Ripley shared her body with Raksha's entity, she could remember those as well. She could feel Raksha trying to conceal her thoughts, not wanting to reveal anything – but Ripley was in control of her own mind now, and she _would_ have the answer! And to the demon's dismay, Ripley gained full access, and she was instantly transported back two-hundred years, back to the _Sulaco_…

* * *

_She was the facehugger: the special embryo carrier that had recently emerged from the egg the mother had planted aboard the ship before she was expelled into space. This was a special carrier, because it had not one, but two embryos that was to be implanted into hosts. This was the emissary of the brood, the creature that would spread their legacy further and save the species from annihilation. It was a queen facehugger: carrying not only the embryo of a new queen, but one of a sentry drone as well that would ensure the safety of the unborn mother until she was ready to emerge…_

_There would always be a new crèche, a new hive - and a hive needed a strong queen, and for a queen to grow strong, she needed to gestate in a suitable host that would provide her with the power she needed. The facehugger had found its way into the compartment where the humans were hibernating. It looked around with its inhuman senses, scanning the surroundings in ways a mammal would never comprehend…_

_There were four humanoids in pods: the strongest of them was to be the host for the new queen! The first one however was discovered to be artificial, incompatible to be a host! The second humanoid was male… certainly strong in physics, but damaged. The body would use its energies to heal those wounds the male had received, diverting necessary power from the queen. The male would perhaps serve as a host to the sentry drone later._

_Next humanoid was a fully developed female: good physics, and fresh… a possible candidate. But the last human was the perfect choice. A pup: a young mammal that was full of life, had strong endurable flesh that was not yet deteriorated as fully grown hosts sometimes were. The pup was going to be the host for the queen! _

_The queen facehugger crawled on top of the transparent cover that was 'shielding' the unsuspecting pup – a lid that was nowhere strong enough to prevent the parasite from breaking through. The facehugger lay itself flat on the cover, flexed its digits in a tight squeeze and cracked the shell. The shards of the now broken lid cut into the layer of __protein polysaccharides that was the creature's silicon-based skin, drawing acid blood. The corrosive fluid spilled on the side of the tube, frying both the metal housing and some circuits which released an acrid smoke. The damage to the creature was severe, but nowhere near fatal. It would quickly regenerate, as was one of the special traits the species possessed. The queen facehugger cleared off the shards to make enough space to crawl through, fully intent to latch on to the pup within… when suddenly it stopped – hesitating._

_When the facehugger had evaluated the mammals to choose a host, it had only been able to make out the exterior potentials of the sleeping humanoids – the sealed lids had concealed any other ways to read out the conditions of the prey. Now as the creature had broken through the shell to the pup, it caught the scent of the little female. It smelled her breath, and it spoke volumes – the pup was starved! The little humanoid was suffering from malnutrition, its nutrient levels too low, and therefore insufficient to feed an embryo during gestation! Had it concerned the matter of a normal drone, this deviation wouldn't have made much bother - but this facehugger was to implant a queen, the ruler of the new hive! This pup would make a weak queen due to her malnutrition – she was therefore an inadequate host for the purpose!_

_The facehugger jumped off the cryo-tube of the pup, seeking another. The mammal in the tube next to it: the adult female: she would make the best host! So intent was it on its task that it was oblivious to the activity that was going around – the acrid fumes from the acid-burn had set off the smoke detectors, a voice was giving out a warning of fire in the cryogenic compartment. The queen facehugger wouldn't know what it meant, neither would it be bothered by it. It only repeated its actions on the next lid, broke through… and set out to do the task of implantation, its sole purpose in life…_

* * *

"I made it because I was starved?" Newt asked. The borderline malnutrition Dietrich had diagnosed her with when examining her - her long-time solitude in the ruins of her colony being the cause for that.

"You escaped impregnation because the facehugger knew that you lacked the sufficient nutrients in your systems to make a strong queen," Ripley confirmed. "Instead it went to me…" And that's where the memory ended. In the implantation process, the embryo was separated from the facehugger – there were no more thought patterns that could be shared from that moment.

"Unfortunately, the damage was done… your tube had been breached, and after the crash into the ocean, the seawater was able to…" Again Ripley didn't want to finish the sentence.

"It drowned me," Newt finished in a somewhat troubled tone. Yet it wasn't that fact that concerned her right now… it was something else from Ripley's recollections that gave her a bit of scare.

"That's a very interesting revelation," a male voice suddenly cut in. Hicks had come to and was now joining them. "What is disturbing about it is: how can you possibly know this? How can you have the memories of a facehugger if I may ask?" Newt felt a lot easier now that Hicks was there, and she was glad that he had voiced the exact detail that was bothering her.

"How are you feeling, Hicks?" Ripley asked.

"My hands are killing me," the man said as he held up his ravaged palms for them to see. "But I did notice right now that you were trying to evade my question."

Ripley sighed. "That is a bit of a disturbing story…"

"I think we all have a story to tell," Hicks stated as he sat down in front of the females on a packing box that stood to the side in the corridor. "We're safe up here for the time being… so why don't we all take the opportunity to catch up?"

Although there were a lot of disturbing issues that would be revealed, Ripley relented, and she began telling the two what had happened to her after the fateful crash on Fiorina 161 two hundred years ago…


	23. The safehouse

"It's quite a lot to take in," Ripley said after nearly two hours of story exchanges between the three.

"I say," Hicks concurred. He had trouble swallowing that this Ripley was in fact a clone, partly blended with the creature that had impregnated her. It did explain a lot of her strange behavior though, as well as her acid blood.

Newt didn't have the full grasp on what a clone really was as she was still so young, but she did take in the significance of Ripley's genetic make-up – and as the woman had feared, it made the child grew a bit more aversive of her as the girl hated the aliens more than anything in the whole galaxy. How could she possibly ever trust the adult again?

"Do you think that… Colonel Decker had something to do with Bishop not destroying the derelict?" the girl instead asked the male adult. Now that she knew that he no longer carried an alien queen of his own, she felt way more comfortable around him.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, kiddo," Hicks answered her in a fatherly tone. "After the revelation of his true nature, I think we may have greatly underestimated him."

From Ripley's point of view, it had been quite an adventure Hicks and Newt had lived through aboard the _Hercules_ together with Bishop and a band of marines called the 'Rawhides'. It added to her shame of learning of the agony and her near-death experience the child had suffered back then, all because of what Ripley had done. It was no wonder why they were so disappointed with her. She couldn't decide whether to light a candle for Clemens' memory or to curse him forever that he and the warden Andrews of 'Fury 16' had decided to conceal the bodies from her behind her back. She wondered if any of the two had known of the safety device in the military cryo-tubes that had injected a kinesthetic agent into the cerebral cortexes of the dead passengers that would prevent the brainstems from necrotizing? Had Ripley known about it, she would never have been so insisting on cremating the bodies.

"If only I had known…" Ripley muttered solemnly.

"Well… you weren't the only one kept in the dark," Hicks said. "And because of people keeping secrets from us, we've been through some rough times, leading to some totally unexpected developments…"

"What's really scary in all this is the lengths some people will take just to get their hands on the aliens, and with no regards for others…" Newt added.

"You're right about that, honey," Hicks said, impressed by the girl's input. It was so typical of this child: she was way older than her years, and that was what at the same time made it so tragic. She had been forced to grow up mentally quickly when the xenomorphs had overrun her colony and she had been left as the only survivor, but emotionally she was still six years old, as was her true age. While her intellectual statements made him proud, it still made him feel sad as it spoke volumes of the childhood the girl had been robbed of.

"It's like my daddy once said:" Newt went on. "'The true monsters come in the shape of humans.' Weyland, Burke, Colonel Decker, and even Dr. Roman… they were all ready to kill us for the creatures – and there's no doubt that Jacob McHagen is thinking in the same lines. He's a monster just like they were."

"Men that have become corrupted by power always make the worst adversaries," Hicks concurred. "And although I have never seen him face to face, I've learned that McHagen is definitely a man who doesn't hesitate to sacrifice his own men to achieve his goals. There's no humanity in him… which makes me wonder… How come he decided to have you woken up, kiddo? I knew that your tube had been recovered, but I had no idea that you had been brought out of your hibernation. It certainly couldn't have been out of the goodness of his heart, so what did he want with you?"

"He wanted the codes," the girl answered.

"Codes?" Ripley asked, now remembering that the commander had demanded that from the girl in his office. "To what?"

"Bishop gave me a disc before we parted ways on the _Hercules_ – he said that it contained everything he'd ever found out about the aliens."

"He did a thorough research on both them and of the derelict while we were busy hauling eggs," Hicks filled in. "It sounds like the disc contains every little scrap there is to know about the creatures, including how to control them."

"Then I can understand McHagen's need for it," Ripley said.

"But obviously it's encrypted," Hicks returned.

"Bishop did say that he made sure that only I would be able to access it," Newt informed the adults, "but he never told me how. Even if I had wanted to give the codes to McHagen, which I never did, I wouldn't have been able to. I don't know the codes! But I couldn't tell McHagen that – I don't know what he would've done to me if he found out. So when the storm hit and killed the power, I escaped."

"And made your way here," Hicks stated. "But did you know that this tower is infested with aliens?"

"Yes… but those I know how to evade. I hate them… but I still figured that my chances were better with them than with the McHagen."

"Good thing for us, otherwise we never would've gotten out of the elevator shaft alive. We owe you our lives, Newt."

"You're lucky I happened to be out looking for my cat when I heard the noise of the car hitting the bottom, and then heard you shouting from inside. _And_ that Fixer had shown me a few tricks on how to bypass some circuits to the door so that I could open it."

"Cat? From where did you get a cat?"

"It doesn't really matter now," she said dejectedly. "He's disappeared. I think he went out exploring when I wasn't looking and now I can't find him. I… I fear he might've been taken."

Hicks rubbed her arm with the back of his hand. (He still hurt too much in his palms.) "We'll keep a lookout for it, kiddo. But perhaps we should get a move on as well, before the buggers gets a scent of us. Have you seen any of them up here, Newt?"

"Two on one occasion," the girl said. "They didn't see me. I was always good with hiding from them."

"That's fine, but now I would prefer that you came with us to my hideout where I put all of the other survivors. It's like a bunker, you'll be safer there. I don't like the idea of any creatures trapping you up here on the top of the tower from where you can't escape."

The girl actually looked insulted. "Can't escape? It was for a quick escape that I _did_ choose this spot up here! There's a vertical chute in the air ducts that goes many levels down. I was planning to slide through there should I happen to become boxed in. It's too narrow for the aliens to follow."

Hicks shook his head in amazement and he grinned at the child, stroking her jawbone with his thumb. "Clever little munchkin, you. You had it all figured out, didn't you?"

"I'm not the ace of Monster Maze for nothing," the girl retorted, fighting not to look pleased of the praise.

Ripley was amazed and proud of Newt's thinking as well, but there was something about that plan that was nagging against one of her own memories. "Were you really prepared to do that? I was under the impression that you would be cautious around those vertical shafts after you fell and slid down in one when we were escaping from your colony, and which led to your capture?"

Newt shrugged, unsure how to explain it. "If it hadn't been for that I didn't want to get separated from you guys back then, and that we had those monsters breathing down on our necks… I kind of found it to be fun."

* * *

With the elevator out of commission, the three had no choice but to descend the tower via the stairwell to get to Hicks' own hideout. Newt made sure to bring the food she herself had collected when escaping her quarters/cell. It wasn't a great amount for several people, but Hicks was grateful for the child's intuition. He admitted that their own food supply was running dangerously low.

It was a risky trek, as they would be sitting ducks should any alien come down on them and there was no place to hide, and they had no weapons - but both Hicks and Ripley were 'listening' to their surroundings with their enhanced abilities, managing to detect any scurrying creature in advance so that they could avoid them – and Newt's own acute hearing could detect any sounds that were typically made by the aliens at a good distance. It was a time-consuming walk, which was spent in silence – but finally they were back at the lower level, and back to the spot where the adults had been attacked before they'd run off. As expected, there were no signs of any bodies. The aliens always collected whatever source materials they could find for their community either if it originated from humans or from their own. There were only debris, scorch marks from weapons fire, bloodstains, and acid-burns that hinted that a battle had taken place there.

Hicks led the way into a long service tunnel until they finally reached a heavyset door. He knocked on the barrier in a specific rhythm, which he explained was to tell the people on the other side that it was one of their own returning and demanding entrance. A radio crackled in the silence.

"- Identification, please?" a radio-distorted voice said.

"Hicks. Corporal: number #48215E9," the man replied into the radio. "I'm bringing two more survivors."

"- Is the perimeter clear?" the voice in the radio asked.

"It is," Hicks answered, and the radio went out. The armored door opened slightly with just enough space to accommodate one person at a time. Hicks motioned Newt through first, then Ripley, and then finally himself. Once inside, he instructed the two soldiers who'd greeted them to secure the door.

Hicks let out a sigh of relief. "We're safe… at least for now."

"We thought you were a goner, Corporal," one of the men said.

"It was a close call… fortunately I had some help."

"Those two?" The soldier was dubious. "Begging your pardon, Corporal, but this is hardly a place for a kid. Where'd you find her?"

"She found _us!_" Hicks corrected. "It's actually thanks to _her_ that me and Ripley here are still alive, and she's also kind enough to share her own food supply with us, so I won't have any negative words about her from anyone." He shoved a finger to the grunt's face. "Not – one – word – at - all!"

"I… I didn't mean it that way, Sir," the soldier stammered.

"Good. Because since she'll be staying with us now, I will expect everyone to stand prepared to protect her at any time, as it is your soldier's duty!" He turned to his companions. "Now let's get you settled in."

"Just a minute, Corporal," the other sentry, a woman, interrupted. The nametag on her uniform said: 'P. Rogers'. "You need to report to the infirmary!"

"Yes, I know I need treatment for my hands. I appreciate your concern, Airman, but there's really no need for you to…"

"Begging your pardon, Sir, but that is not what I am talking about. You've been out of touch for hours. You, and those two you've brought needs to be screened!"

Hicks turned a bit irate. "Now hold on a minute here, Rogers… I have certainly _not_ been infested!"

"We don't know that!" the female persisted. "May I remind you that it is by your orders? _Every_ newcomer or anyone who have been out of touch for an extended period of time needs to be checked upon return! You included!"

"I certainly didn't mean that _I too_ would…!"

Both sentries raised their weapons at the corporal. The female soldier looked at him with a determined expression. "Sir… I must insist!"

Hicks sighed. "And to think… I really _did_ implement those rules!" He surrendered and led Newt and Ripley into another direction of the corridor to a make-shift sickbay. You could tell the area's function by the simple hospital cot and the medical flasks. It was staffed by a lone woman who sat at a desk over a bunch of documents which she scribbled on. She looked up as the three came in.

"Well, I'll be damned…" she said in greeting to Hicks. "You made it."

"Ripley, Newt, may I present doctor Adrienne Kinloch… one of the better people McHagen sent over here."

"That's a matter of perspective," the woman muttered. "For him it was a way to get rid of me!" Then she stopped and looked with a hint of surprise at Newt. "Don't tell me he sent the girl over here as well?"

"No, she got over here by her own… crawled through the umbilical that connects the complexes from what I understand," Hicks explained.

"Really? That sounds like an interesting thing to hear about later. But right now, let's get you screened. You first, corporal!"

"I only need some salve and bandages for my hands," he said, showing the doctor his ravaged palms. "But otherwise there's no need to…"

"Oh, but it is!" Adrienne interrupted. "Don't try to get out of it just because you happen to be the commander of this bunch! Even the more reason to have you checked for any considerations!"

"I'm not infested, Doctor!"

"Let _me_ be the judge of that!" Adrienne pointed at the cot. "Sit! Down!" Ripley had to stifle a laughter as Hicks sheepishly went over to the appointed cot and sat down. "Now open your mouth!" Hicks complied and the doctor used a light and a small mirror on a stick in his maw and examined the back walls of his throat.

"Say 'ahhh'," she instructed. Hicks did.

"All right, no sign of anything having been forced past the epiglottis. No apparent irritation to the pharynx. And no marks on your face. Looks like no face-grabbing parasite got to you while you were away at least."

"I could've told you that," Hicks grumbled.

"Don't get started on that again," Adrienne told him off. "We need to be absolutely sure! Now, what did you do to your hands?"

"I was clinging to the lift-cables from the top of an elevator shaft."

"Maybe you should try riding _inside_ the car next time!" she said as she went to fetch a bottle containing some medical alcohol. She dabbed a wad of cotton with it.

"The car sort of got smacked down into the bottom of the shaft," Hicks retorted.

"Was that the crash we heard?" Adrienne asked as she began to use the wad on the wounds in his palms.

"_Yeeooowww!_" Hicks cried out.

"Don't be such a baby," the doctor chided.

"It _stings!_"

"It should. You've flayed off several layers of your skin and got yourself cuts down to the blood vessels."

Hicks had to endure some minutes grimacing from pain while the doctor cleaned his wounds. She finished by injecting him with a tetanus vaccine and gave him a roll of bandage. "I'm sure you can dress your own hands. Now I would like to check on the girl next."

"You're one mean doctor," Hicks muttered as he got up and walked to the side to wrap up his hands. Newt came over with a feeling of apprehension: she didn't really like doctors anymore. Not after the ones she had to deal with onboard the _Hercules_. And this one had not exactly shown any signs of being compassionate either.

The doctor leaned down towards her and smiled. "Hello, Rebecca. How does your chest feel? Are there any residual aches?"

Newt was a little perplexed by the question. "It's… not that bad, actually. Not like it was before. How did you know?"

"You have no way of knowing, but I was the one who fixed you up after you were thawed up from the cryo-pod. You were asleep during the time."

"That was you? Well… thank you! That's a pure relief. I never want to go through that again." In her peripheral view, the child caught the painful look coming over Ripley's face – but Newt wouldn't comment on it. Ripley on the other hand went over to assist Hicks with the bandaging to distract herself from the shame she felt.

"I'm going to need to check you the same way I did with the corporal," Adrienne informed the girl. "It's just a routine, nothing to worry about. Okay?"

The girl agreed and allowed the doctor to lift her up on the cot, so they'd got on the same level. Newt gagged a little from the tiny mirror the other inserted into the back of her mouth, but it was just a temporary displeasure.

"Looks fine in there. I'd like to take the opportunity to check the skin on your chest to see that there are no problems. You don't mind, do you?"

Newt said nothing – she only nodded. Adrienne gently pulled down the zipper on her coverall and parted the cloth. With her hands, the woman probed around the newly applied skin. "Can you feel that?" she asked.

"A little," Newt replied.

"Good. It's adapting nicely. Your body has accepted the new skin-work and is working to create new nerves through it. The numbness I'm sure you felt here up to now is perfectly normal after your surgery. Now, can you feel this?" The woman carefully pressed her hand against the child's ribcage.

"Y-yeah, a little," the girl winced uncomfortably.

"But not that much?"

"No. It was much worse before…"

"It'll get better," Adrienne promised. "The cement I applied has hardened and is being fully incorporated to your chest-bone. In a few weeks it will be like before your accident with hardly any scarring to remind you of it."

"Then all it takes is to survive that long," Newt stated. Adrienne understood what she was referring to.

"I must confess, although I was the one who found you in that lifeboat, I spoke against thawing you up when those creatures came into the picture. It's a horror you shouldn't have to live through."

"It's like it has been my whole life," Newt replied solemnly, surprised at herself that she was opening up like this to the doctor who was a stranger. "I was born here, you know… in the colony that used to be here."

"For a 200-year-old girl, you seem to be quite healthy." Adrienne pulled up the zipper again, restoring the child's modesty. "But you are a little too thin. You need to eat."

Newt looked annoyed. "I wish people would stop _pestering_ me about that! I don't have much of an appetite these days. And besides: me being thin is what makes me fit into the narrow airducts and allow me to go anywhere I want without being followed! That's how I survived!"

The doctor held up her hands in submission. "I'm only concerned because I am a doctor. No need to run over me. I'm just trying to be your friend here."

The girl's heart sank. She'd feared that this would happen. It turned out that she liked this woman. But to like her meant the high risk of losing her to the aliens, just like she had lost everybody else she had liked in her past. Newt was terrified of having to go through all of that again.

"I can't," she whispered, shaking her head. "I can't have you as a friend. I don't dare to."

"What do you mean?" Adrienne asked perplexed.

"If I have you as a friend, you will disappear, just like everybody I ever have known has gone. I rather be alone, instead of being _left_ alone again! I can't handle it anymore!" Newt looked down at the floor. "I really didn't want to be woken up from being frozen. I was better off there than not belonging any place, always having to face the monsters that ruined my life, killing everybody who was ever dear to me…"

"That's not true, honey," Hicks called from the back. "You _do_ belong somewhere, don't let anybody tell you otherwise. And you've got me…" He threw a glance at Ripley. "Well, you got _us_ back now!"

The girl didn't smile – instead her expression grew dead serious. "And what promises can you make that I won't lose you again?" Hicks clamped his mouth shut at those words, knowing he had fallen into a certain trap once again where the girl was concerned. She was not like any other child: you should never make promises to her that you weren't sure to keep as she was too smart to take it to heart knowing when the odds were against you. It was a form of lie, and you should never attempt to lie to this girl as she had the ability to see through those false words as easily as you looked through a pane of glass.

"Wait a minute…" Adrienne interrupted. "You've been asleep for two hundred years... how could you know these people from before?"

"Hicks and Ripley were the ones coming to my colony after the monsters destroyed it," Newt explained to the doctor. "They saved me. Hicks was the one who put me to sleep."

Adrienne looked back at the two adults. "I thought you were just a soldier that McHagen had brought in who had a change of heart?" she addressed Hicks. "_You_ were the one Forster and Bors found frozen in stasis on that alien ship?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

Hicks shrugged, flexing his fingers around the bandage on his newly dressed palms. "It never occurred to me that you would find it important. Besides, you never told me that you were the one who'd found the EEV where Newt was sleeping, or that she had been thawed up for that matter."

"What about the hostile virus that was said you were infected with?"

Hicks waved it off impassively. "That was the queen they were referring to. McHagen's own doctors took it out. Of course, I was more concerned for being a source of hazard as I was poisoned with radiation before I went under, but the alien sleeper pod fixed me. Is there a problem, Doc?"

Adrienne was irate. "I'd like to be kept in the loop on all medical matters of my patients, no matter how minor a detail! That way I can be certain that I don't administer the wrong treatment! It's not like I've got any medical records available to me! You're in for a thorough examination when this is over, Corporal, both you and the girl!" Now she turned to the only nonparticipant in the discussion.

"I've got a two-hundred-year-old little girl and a two-hundred-year-old grunt. And the girl says you're from that time as well. Is this true?"

"Actually it's more like 260," Ripley replied.

Adrienne crossed her arms, looking skeptical. "Really? What's your story? Stuck in a mysterious space floating energy ribbon referred to as a Nexus in where time stands still?"

Ripley didn't catch the joke. Neither did she think that the fate she endured to get to this point was a laughing matter. "I wasn't napping my way here… I really was dead. You think 260 years sounds weird? Try the fact that I'm at the same time in this incarnation isn't more than nearly two-years-old."

"That does sound quite farfetched, yes."

"I wasn't resuscitated from death like they've been… I'm a clone."

"Cloning humans is strictly _prohibited_. Who made you?"

"McHagen did that through some of his minions on a science boat called the _Auriga_."

Adrienne's skeptical expression turned into one of shock. "The _Auriga? You_ were on the _Auriga?! _You're saying _you_ were the experiment?!"

"You know of it?" Ripley asked.

Adrienne hesitated. "I… heard of it… but only rumors mostly." She composed herself, but Ripley could tell that the young doctor was scared of something.

"If you were there… then I have to ask you something… I have to know!" It looked like she was praying silently. "I've heard rumors that says that the scientists on the _Auriga_ had kidnapped several sleeping passengers from a commuter transport and used them for a scientific experiment, _killing_ them all. Is it true?"

Ripley understood the woman's concern now… someone close to her had been involved – someone who'd been dear to her. One of the passengers… a relative? A lover? But whatever connection this doctor had to any of them, it wouldn't make the truth any easier.

"I'm sorry to say that… it's all true. They really did capture a bunch of sleeping passengers… and they used them as hosts to breed the very same aliens that has infested this building. It was all for the sake of getting their hands on the creatures." For somebody who had spent her recent life dispassionately without care for anything and with certain anger issues, Ripley did sound genuinely apologetic.

Adrienne lost all color in her face. She stumbled over to the chair by her desk and sat heavily down, sloughing in defeat. Neither Hicks nor Newt said anything, as they weren't aware of the incident on the topic. It was up to Ripley to pass on the condolences.

"I'm truly sorry," Ripley said. "Was it someone special?"

"My father…" the other woman whispered.

_Oh god, I hope it wasn't Purvis!_

"It's not much of a consolation, but most of the passengers were still asleep when they died. I don't think your father noticed…"

But Adrienne shook her head. "It's worse than that… much worse!" She looked up at the other woman and spoke with a strained voice. "My father was Matthew Kinloch – he was one of the supporting _scientists _on the _Auriga_!"


	24. The plan

The small group of survivors left Adrienne to allow her to deal with her grief. It was understandable: it wasn't every day you learned that your father had been participant in committing mass-murder in the name of science.

Hicks led Ripley and Newt into the center of his 'safehouse'. It looked like an underground network with pipes and weird machinery where people were seen huddling in the corners, most of them with a thousand-yard-stare, while others simply looked like they were half asleep. Hicks explained to his companions that they were standing in the main convergence bay of the tower's structure. Since the building was basically a convertible rocket ship, it was in this central maintenance point where all functions connected to each other in form of data nodes, cables, pistons and gears. As this was the main joint of the rocket, it was extra shielded from the heat of the nearby exhaust ports of the engines – a reinforced 'bubble' of sorts in which the aliens had not been able to penetrate. Risking their own lives every time they had left this compound, Hicks and many of the other survivors had managed to capture all the supplies and portable equipment they could find and had set up a small habitat section with a base of operations of their own in secrecy. As far as they knew, Jacob McHagen and his staff were not at all aware of this little rebel hideout Hicks had set up after the aliens had broken free out of their confinement.

There was a commotion going on when they came in. A man was standing poking a long metal rod underneath the pipes running along the wall, striking the tip of his weapon into the cavity beneath with such force that he was making loud clanging noises.

"I'm going to get ya, you little wretch! Just you wait...!" the man muttered angrily.

"That's Johner," Ripley commented. "So he made it. What's he doing over there?"

"Not chasing rats, for sure," Hicks said bewildered of the other's behavior. "We don't have those here."

"You blasted little beast!" Johner continued to spit as he peered underneath the pipes. An angry growl of a kind was heard.

"What the blazes are you up to, man?" Hicks called out to him.

Johner looked up, and as expected, he didn't look particularly happy to see the people. "So, you made it, huh?" the man grumbled.

"What are you doing there?" Hicks repeated his question.

"I'm trying to kill a vermin that got in here through the ventilation ducts!"

"There's no vermin here…" Hicks started to say when an orange blur escaped from the small space and headed for the other newcomers.

"_Jones!_" Newt exclaimed in relief and bent down to pick up the cat. "Don't run away from me like that, boy!" she scolded the animal as she hugged it to her chest. Then she cast a wary look at Johner. She recognized the man from the video McHagen had showed her and her instincts had told her that this was not a pleasant person. And just like many others, he didn't like the cat - that's why she gave a half-reproachful look in his direction since he had tried to hurt the little animal. Ripley meanwhile stood wide-eyed. "Jones?!" she whispered in disbelief, staring at the orange feline in the child's arms. The cat saw the woman too, and became a bit apprehensive as he sensed that his former human carried a scent of the predator that had once invaded his realm.

"It hers?" Johner growled. "Keep it _off_ me!"

"What? You allergic to cats?" Hicks asked.

"Cats don't like me, so I don't like them!"

"No animal likes you, Johner," Ripley implied.

"And the feeling's mutual!" the other raged.

"If you just leave him alone, I'm sure he won't bother you," Ripley told him off. Instead she changed the subject. "How many of you made it here?"

"Why don't you ask Keevan that?" Johner nodded against a spot where one of the Felger twins sat heavily against the wall, head downcast. He hardly looked up as Ripley approached him.

"Keevan?" Ripley carefully addressed him. The man looked up and the woman could see that his eyes were red and swollen.

"They took my brother!" he sobbed. Ripley closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "I'm sorry," she returned.

"That's new!" Johner commented. "To lose someone didn't seem to bother you before. You hardly cared when Vriess died!"

"Things have changed."

"Yeah - _again!_ Shit, lady, I have no idea where we got you anymore! I know you women tend to change your minds often, but this is ridiculous!"

"Is there a way to help my brother?" Keevan pleaded. Ripley slowly shook her head in denial.

"Who else did they take when we got separated?" Hicks cut in.

"The two marines with the stunners," Johner muttered. "And the driver. Only that young whining grunt made it here." He nodded his head towards the corner, where Ensign Andersson sat in a world of his own.

"Zack Ryan?" Ripley asked.

"Sorry," Johner said without hiding his contempt. "He made it!" And when speaking of the devil, the annoying unwanted crewmember of the _Betty_ came up to them. He looked even more disheveled now than he did before.

"You!" he growled as he spied Ripley. "You blasted bitch, what the hell have you brought us into? What the hell _were_ those things?!"

"They're what I've said all along they were," she informed him. "Maybe you should have listened from the start."

"Don't get cheeky with me, you wench!" he raged. "You bloody sluts are always nothing but trouble!"

"Hey, cool it will ya?" Hicks intervened. "What's your problem?"

"Don't give me that, you snotty pudface!" Ryan shot back.

"Like I said before: you got a _serious_ attitude problem!"

"He's always been like that," Ripley informed the corporal.

"And you've put up with it?"

"Oh, not really," she confessed. "I am however willing to cut him some slack now since he's obviously scared."

"_Scared?!"_ Ryan roared. "No one says I'm scared! I ain't! Only _sissies_ are scared! If you say that again I'm gonna punch your fucking nose in!"

Hicks was having enough. "I'll only say this one more time, son: stand down!"

"You don't fucking tell me what to do, I _told_ you! Not you, not any fucking wenches, _no one!"_

"Mind your tone," Hicks said, growing quite irritated with the slob. He had to duck as Ryan attempted to throw a punch at him.

"_I said, you don't fucking tell me what to do!"_

It wasn't just the senior people in command who grew annoyed with Ryan. Because of the heated debate, Jones the cat, still held in Newt's arms, was finding the situation threatening, making him hiss at the company standing arguing. Now Ryan made his one huge mistake.

"Get that fucking wretch out of my face before I tear its fucking head off, you little _bitch!_ And _yours_ with it!"

Newt was naturally taken aback at the sudden harsh language directed at her, but yet her reaction was nothing compared to Ripley's. The woman had stood calm and patient so far, but now she grabbed on to the slob's throat and slammed him against the wall, her face creased with rage.

"I can take that you keep decrying me with your women-discrediting affronts!" she growled through clenched teeth. "But you will _not_ speak that way to _her! Never to __**her**__!_" Ryan wheezed under the woman's chokehold, his face turning blue. It was uncertain if Ripley was aware of that she was pulling back her fist to strike him, as her rage allowed her bestial side to influence her actions again. Johner noticed it though, and right now it was he alone who was aware of the danger it posed.

"If she kills him, her darker side will take her over completely," he passed to Hicks.

The corporal wasn't entirely sure of everything that was going on with the woman, but he realized that it was serious. He moved in to stop her.

"If you do that, she will take out her wrath on you," Johner cautioned him.

Ripley was about to throw her punch that would smash in Ryan's face when another came in and grabbed hold of her posed arm.

"Ripley, _don't!_" Newt pleaded, stretching up all the way she could to halt the woman's powerful limb. The adult froze.

"Ooh, god damn," Johner muttered under his breath, fully expecting Ripley to retaliate to the child in the same way she always did when somebody interfered in her tantrums. Everybody from the _Betty_ had all suffered the consequences of that.

"He's not worth it, Ripley," Newt begged the adult. "Let it go."

Ripley hesitated, watching the child, feeling the tone of the young's voice bore into her mind… the voice she _always_ listened to. Her muscles then relaxed and she released the slob who slumped against the floor, gasping. She did nothing else besides that, except gently putting her hands on both side of the girl's head, stroking the blond tresses. "Sorry," she whispered. It was a side of herself Ripley had not wanted the girl to see - and sure enough, Newt wasn't calmed by the apology. "You scare me."

"Don't, baby!" Ripley knelt before the girl, hands on the small shoulders. The adult looked panicked. "Don't be afraid of me. I'd never do _anything_ to harm you!"

"How can I know that?" Newt looked ready to cry again. "How do I even know that it's really you in there? I'm not sure who you _are_ anymore!"

Ripley had no answer to give, as she wasn't really sure herself. What had just happened with Ryan hadn't been completely her doing. She knew that she had once again been influenced by Raksha whom was seeking to regain control, and by fueling their shared dislike for the slob, Ripley had unintentionally almost allowed her dark side to get the upper hand.

"I'm… having some difficulties right now," Ripley reluctantly admitted. Newt turned away, not wanting to show anyone the anguish she herself was feeling for the woman's behavior.

Johner was meanwhile astonished. "Blow me down! She didn't _do_ anything! Every time we had to go in and stop Ripley from crossing the line, we ended up having to take her wrath instead. We always did! But that kid really turned her around without having to suffer the consequences. Not even Call could do that!"

Hicks couldn't decide if that was to be regarded as a good outcome or bad outcome. He took it as a good sign though that the woman had not done the child any physical harm, but the development gave him a bit of a bother. He would have to keep a close watch on the two of them.

Zack Ryan was shooting daggers with his eyes from the floor where he lay slumped, but he didn't say anything as he knew that he would get no sympathy from anybody around him. He had, as he'd always done in the past, brought it upon himself. Hicks gave him an angry look in return.

"Never insult or threaten that child in front of Ripley or me _ever_ again!" the corporal warned the slob. "If I hear about you doing her any wrong one more time, you will answer to me! And I won't be any nicer to you than Ripley was!" It was a clear reminder that it was under Hicks' rules the slob stood under, and the corporal wouldn't accept any more misdemeanor from him. That was something that made Ryan even more enraged.

Despite that Ripley felt devastated by Newt's current distrust of her, she went back to business. She turned to Hicks. "Would you mind telling me your next move? What's your plan?"

Hicks considered this. "The fact that you have entered the picture might change the circumstances a bit. C'mon, I'll show you. All of you."

The leader of the rogue group led the newcomers, Ripley, the pirates, Newt, and the surviving ensign to the part of the 'underground complex' that served as their main operations center. Aside for a few soldiers who were busy monitoring the computers, it was deserted. Hicks didn't really have that many people at his disposal. There was one other person there though waiting for them.

"Still with us, Doc?" Hicks asked Adrienne Kinloch.

"Yes," the doctor said, sounding more composed that Hicks would've expected. "I was a little distraught, but it passed quickly. I always knew that my father had an immoral trait in him, I had just hoped that the business with that passenger liner wasn't true. I was always prepared for the worst though." She sighed at this. "His crimes will be a shame that I'll have to carry with me for the rest of my life."

"Why?" Hicks asked. "You're not your father. You have nothing to answer for what he did."

"I'm a doctor like he and my mother, as well as some of my ancestors," Adrienne pointed out. "We live by the oath to preserve lives, not to take them! By him having violated that oath, he has disgraced everything that we believe in! He has tarnished the family name, and that will not be easily forgotten in our profession. So I am judged, whether I had something to do with it or not. I'm sure it is the same with you soldiers: you don't take lightly to deserters or traitors in your kin, do you?"

"I get the picture," Hicks surrendered and went back to business. He motioned for Ripley and the other newcomers to gather around a table. History seemed to repeat itself again – there was a large flat video display which showed a series of charts and mechanical drawings. It was just like back at Hadley's Hope two hundred years earlier when Ripley and the surviving marines stood over a similar device studying the construction blueprints over the colony. Just like back then, Newt hopped around from one foot to another, trying to see. It didn't come as a surprise that Hicks lifted her up and sat her on the edge of the table before he started his recital.

"For those of you who aren't already aware, these structures McHagen have put up here are basically two separate rocket ships that have deployed into the complexes standing on either side of the alien derelict, and we are of course inside the 'research tower' where they breed the creatures." He zoomed in on a special area of the blueprints that was displayed on the video table. The table was actually capable of showing a three-dimensional holographic display, but Hicks settled with standard two-dimensional mode for now as it was easier to show the charts like that. "Here's where we are: in the main operations bay of the rocket's modular joint deployment system. It's reinforced with extra shielding, which is strong enough to keep the xenomorphs out. So we've been relatively safe here ever since they broke out of their confinement."

Hicks began to roll the video picture to view another section of the building. "This is the complex's main reactor room, which provides power not only to the structure, but to the rocket engines as well. It usually is a secluded and sealed area, as it is a heated compartment that's warmed up from the generators that has its own water-cooling system. So not only is it quite hot in there, there's also some steam." He tapped his finger on the spot on the video-display. "It's not confirmed, but I'm willing to bet anything that _there's_ where the xenomorphs have made their nest!"

Ripley looked at the charts, and nodded. "I won't bet against you as I'd say you're right. Warm, dark and steamy. It's the ideal environment which they prefer."

"So that's the one place we need to stay out of," Johner commented.

"It happens to be the one place we need to _get_ to, that's where our problem lies," Hicks replied.

"Why?" Keevan asked as he melancholy watched the spot on the blueprints where the aliens most likely took his twin brother.

"The plan is a simple one: this is a rocket, and we want it to take off into the air."

Ensign Andersson objected. "You can't do that! These rockets were only designed to work one way! Travel here, land, and deploy the modules. They're not capable of doing things in reverse and go back into space."

"I'm not intending to send this rocket back into space, son."

"What else would you do with it?" Andersson asked perplexed.

"I just want to shoot it up into the sky. The laws of physics will deal with the rest."

"How?" Johner asked. It was Adrienne who answered him.

"As this rocket we're in wasn't designed to retract the modules back into itself, a take-off would give it an extremely unbalanced flight. The stresses it will suffer will literally shake it apart… and blow it up!"

"Taking the aliens onboard with it." Hicks finished.

"And us too!" Johner angrily pointed out to the corporal.

"No. Thanks to you we now have the means of our escape before we attempt to send it up. We've captured the transport bus. The plan is to get out in that before shooting up the rocket into oblivion."

"Okay." Johner looked calmer now. "So what's stopping you? Why not just do it?"

"The problem is that after they landed here, McHagen's tech people manually disconnected the fuel-lines from the rocket boosters. It was to avoid any accidental ignition. If we want this rocket to take off, we have to manually reconnect the fuel injectors to the engines."

"And the engines are located right in the middle of xeno central," Ripley concluded, seeing the dilemma. "Even if you were crazy enough to venture in there, the aliens would capture you long before you'd be able to finish the job. Not only is it suicide, it's nowhere feasible without being spotted by them."

"And there's no other way to do it?" Keevan asked.

Hicks shook his head. "None. And no other alternatives. Sending the rocket up into the sky to blow up is our best and only shot to obliterate the xenomorphs in one swift stroke."

"Maybe Ripley can do it," Johner shot in with an ugly grin. "She was in that bug hole on the _Auriga_ and got out of it alive."

Ripley scowled. "The circumstances back then weren't exactly what is considered to be normal within a crèche. They were… distracted! I doubt that I would make it far in this nest."

Hicks took up the thread. "No, we certainly cannot just waltz in there… not without some kind of advantage. There has to be some kind of weak spot we can exploit – something we can divert them with."

"Like what?" Johner countered.

"If I knew, I wouldn't raise the question, would I?"

Now Adrienne spoke up again. "But there may be a way to find one." She dug her hand into her pocket and fished out a shining item. Everybody looked at it curiously.

"Is that the disc Bishop gave me?" Newt asked incredulously.

"It is," the doctor confirmed. "I found it in the EEV where I… and Ensign Andersson found you."

The ensign in question suddenly got all worked up. "You _did_ take it! Give it back! I need it to get in good grace with Commander McHagen again! He sent me here to retrieve it!"

"Well, fat chance!" Adrienne snorted.

"_Give!_" Andersson insisted, approaching her. "I _need_ it to get back! I'm not allowed back without it! I don't _want_ to be here!"

"You think any one of us wants to be here?" Hicks had rounded the table and was now pulling the desperate ensign back. "Calm down, or I'll cuff you to the radiator!"

"It's worthless to you," the ensign persisted. "You can't access it!"

"Neither could McHagen's tech people," Adrienne shot back.

"They have a better chance at it than you!"

The doctor shrugged. "Perhaps. Or perhaps not. Whichever the case, I didn't want McHagen to make an advantage of this. That's why I took it before I was shipped over here. I was thinking I could use it as a bargaining chip."

"What's so special about that disc?" Johner asked impatiently.

"From what I understand, it contains every scrap of information that our friend Bishop managed to dig up about the aliens before he died," Hicks explained. "Apparently there's some highly valuable data on it, including ways to contain the critters."

"But it's heavily encrypted," Adrienne continued. "This friend of yours took extreme measures to keep the wrong people out of it. Without the access codes, there's no way for us to read the files."

"So whose got those codes?" Johner asked.

"The one the disc says that it belongs to." Adrienne fixed her eyes on the smallest member of the group around the table. Newt felt like she wanted to shrink out of sight.

Hicks walked back up beside her and spoke with his gentlest tone. "Do you think you can help us, sweetheart?"

The child almost panicked. "But I don't know_ how!_ I told you! Bishop never _told_ me the codes!"

"Knowing Bishop, I'm sure he thought of some way for you to know the answers. Please, honey, won't you just have a look?"

Newt looked very reluctant. "And what if I can't get in it?"

"Then it will be Bishop who have made a critical error. None of us will hold it against you."

The girl bit her lower lip, contemplating. Hicks did nothing to rush her. Finally, the child agreed.


	25. The trials

It was Adrienne who took place at a computer console together with Newt who sat down beside her. Jones the cat found this to be the perfect opportunity to jump up into the girls lap and settle in, expecting to be cuddled. Newt appreciated the gesture from the feline – it was like she was getting moral support from the big orange tubby. She didn't want to do this. She was certain that she was going to fail the task, and that was a disappointment she didn't want. It was her the adults depended on now, and she didn't want to be the cause for any setbacks.

Adrienne put the disc into the reader. It took a few moments for the introduction video warning about the aliens to load, but as soon as it did, Adrienne skipped past it.

"I've seen it so many times that I know it by heart. And the rest of us are well aware of the danger those creatures poses, so we don't need to see it. Better to get straight to where we keep hitting our snags."

They got to the page that listed all of the catalogues, among them with the usual inviting filenames:

_The stages/variants of Xenomorph XX121:_

_The anatomy of Xenomorph XX121: _

_Energy source of derelict:_

Adrienne clicked on a catalogue at random and got the sign that she and others before her who attempted to get into the files always got:

ACCESS DENIED!

PROPERTY OF REBECCA JORDEN!

QUESTION: WHO BECAME HONORY CITIZEN OF HADLEY'S HOPE: DATE: 29 MARCH 2178?

ANSWER: _**\**__ .

"That's the first question we got when I first found this disc," Adrienne said to Newt. "And although we've gone over all the old files on everybody who once lived in your colony, we just can't find a single person who matches to this particular date. Does it ring any bell with you?"

Newt stared at the letters on the screen while she absentmindedly petted the cat on her lap. She could feel the expectant eyes of the other adults behind her burn into her back: Hicks, Ripley, and the rest. The knowledge of that made her cringe, because she couldn't find any significance to the date.

"I do have a good memory of almost every people who lived there… we all knew everybody… but I don't remember anybody special coming in on that day. The boss, Mr. Simpson didn't even want to have more people coming to the colony. We were already overstaffed as it was."

Adrienne coaxed the child gently. "Did something else special happen on that day? Somebody doing something heroic perhaps? What does the month March mean to you?"

"My birthday is in March… the fifteenth," Newt said, biting her lower lip. "That date's two weeks after I turned five… but I don't remember anything specific about that day, except that's when I…" Here she stopped.

"What? Do you remember something?" To Adrienne's bewilderment, the child started to giggle.

"Bishop, you _sly_ dog!" Newt leaned forward towards the keyboard and typed in a name.

"Who's Casey?" the doctor asked as she read the letters.

"My favorite doll. I was supposed to get her on my fifth birthday, but the supply ship bringing her came in two weeks too late, on March 29:th. She became my best friend anyway, I had her with me everywhere. To me she was just as much a citizen of the colony as everybody else, even though my brother teased me about it."

Hardly daring to believe it, Adrienne reached forward to press the enter-key on the board. She was rewarded with a new sign on the screen.

CORRECT!

YOU HAVE 33 % APPROVED ACCESS.

QUESTION: WHAT WAS THE HONORED TITLE GIVEN FOR BEING THE NUMEROUS TIME WINNER OF THE GAME MONSTER MAZE?

ANSWER: _**\**__ .

"The name of the 'honorary citizen' was one answer that could never be found in any old records!" Adrienne said exaltedly. "And neither can this. What's Monster Maze?"

"Every kid played it," Newt said, now feeling more confident. "We were doing hide-and-seek in the air-duct system. I was _the_ _ace!_ I could hide better than anybody because I could get anywhere where no one else could! No one could beat me at the game!"

Adrienne was feeling doubtful. She was certain that earlier when attempting to find the correct answer to the question, 'The ace' had been tried, and it turned out to be incorrect. She started to type it in anyway. '_The ac…_'

"But that's not what they called me," Newt then said. Her tone had changed character - she suddenly sounded extremely bitter. Adrienne turned her head, waiting for the child to clarify.

"The other kids wouldn't accept that I was smarter than they were. They claimed that it wasn't fair play just because I was smaller and went places they couldn't go."

"So, what did they call you?" the doctor asked.

The girl pouted. "_Cheater!_ That's what they called me, the sore losers!" She was fretful for the bad memory. _Honored title?_ Was Bishop kidding? Adrienne understood though. It was a clever reverse-riddle. Anybody aside from the child would be thinking of praising titles when the truth was exactly the opposite. A sneaky diversion to keep unauthorized people out.

CORRECT!

YOU HAVE 67 % APPROVED ACCESS.

Adrienne expected there to be a third question popping up to grant them the last percentages required to allow them to get into the files – but the screen dumped its content and instead drew up a picture. They were looking at a 3D-image of a room with no visible doorways, but with two rectangles of different sizes where a big one was located to the left just above floor level while a smaller was fixed in the upper corner right underneath the roof next to the wall on the right. They looked like ventilation covers. A new text came up in the middle of the screen.

CHALLENGE: ENTER THE NETWORK VIA DUCT C FROM CORRIDOR 27-A IN THE B-BLOCK.

The woman couldn't understand what was so special about this instruction. There was a text which informed the ones watching that it was the entrance to duct C right before them – the only way in was through the visible large hatch on the floor level. What was the challenge in this? She put her hand on the mouse and moved the cursor over the screen to click them into the duct as instructed. But before she could 'open' the grate pictured, Newt halted her.

"This is not right," the girl announced. "Does he mean the B-block from my colony? Corridor 27-A? That's wasn't how it looked like!"

"What do you mean?"

"No one could get into duct C from there. That was a _vertical_ shaft! That grate there was in the _roof!_ The picture's flipped!" She pointed with a small digit. "That 'wall' to the right is actually the floor. That small hatch up there in the corner is the _real_ entrance."

"You certain?" Adrienne hadn't really meant to say that, but it escaped her mouth too quickly. The girl's reply was tinged with gentle contempt, as though the doctor had stated the most obvious thing in the world.

"Did I not just say that I'm the ace of Monster Maze? I know every duct like the back of my hand!"

"I meant no disrespect, Rebecca. It's just that this was over two hundred years ago."

"To me it was only a few weeks, Doc." The child's statement was true. Having been dead for three years and then spending the following two decades in suspended animation, the girl had not experienced the time that had gone by. She hadn't grown that much older since the day the aliens wrecked her colony, so the memories in her mind were still fresh.

"And call me Newt," she finished her reprimand to show that she wasn't as angry as she sounded like. "All my friends call me Newt."

Adrienne smiled. It seemed the girl had forgotten her earlier statement that she didn't want the doctor as a friend. "I can do that," the woman said as she clicked on the other hatch with the cursor and sure enough, the picture rotated 90 degrees clockwise into its right position, showing the respective ducts true locations on the screen.

"…on the condition that you call me Adrienne. 'Doc' sounds a little too formal."

"Can I call you 'Adria'?" Newt asked innocently. "Mom had a friend who used to babysit for us whom was called Adria and she was really nice. I like that name."

Adrienne smiled at the girl. "That used to be my mother's pet name for me when I was little. I do think I'd like if you called me that. But only you!"

Newt returned the smile. "Done, Adria."

The picture on the screen had changed again. Now it was showing a three-dimensional image of a network of pipes and conduits. It was like looking at a big multileveled labyrinth from a puzzle-book where you had to find your way from spot 'A' and get to spot 'B'. And it appeared that the challenge was to do exactly that.

CHALLENGE: MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE CAVE OF SOLITUDE WITHOUT GETTING TRAPPED OR BEING SEEN.

BE MINDFUL OF THE RULES OF THE GAME.

"Cave of solitude?" Adrienne was bewildered. "What's that?"

"That's my hideout," Newt said cheerfully. "That's my own private little space that I made mine whenever I wanted to be alone and where I hid when the monsters hit us. It's a pressure relief bubble of the maze."

"I can see at least a dozen of those, and they're all unmarked. Which one was yours?"

Newt pointed up the screen. "All the way up there, near medical… on the other side of the complex from duct C."

"And we have to get there through the entire ventilation network?!" Adrienne couldn't see just how it could be done.

"That's kids play to me," Newt announced whom contrary to the doctor was fully composed. "Just follow my lead. I'll get us there."

All the other adults just stood back, doing nothing to interrupt. They knew that this was entirely the girl's play, they would have nothing to contribute with.

"You said that Bishop wrote that disc?" Ripley quietly asked Hicks. "How did he come up with all this information that only Newt would be able to answer if she didn't know the questions beforehand?"

"He had access to the harddrives of our cryo-tubes in the EEV from the _Sulaco_," Hicks replied as if it was something completely natural. "All of our personality profiles and plenty of our memories were recorded on those while we were asleep during the trip. Standard military protocol."

"A bit of integrity violation, ain't it?"

"For the military or for Bishop?"

"Both, I suppose."

"Normally I'd agree… but I can't forget that hadn't it been for that, none of us would've been revived." Hicks let out a short laugh. "I still feel that our resuscitation was a curse, though."

"I can relate to that," Ripley returned.

One might think that the doctor and the child were playing a video game. It was an electronic image of a maze-like structure where a small dot representing the protagonist had to pass through the crisscross passages without getting caught and without walking into a dead end. A red line was drawn behind the dot, to show what way they had passed. And there were enemies in the labyrinth as well. Using a sick sense of humor, the antagonists of the maze were small electronic facehuggers, scuttling around the pipes like giant arachnids. But this game wasn't a test of skills where the difficulty levels always increased – it was a trial to match Newt's past experiences with the air-duct network to read how she would respond to the different threats in the maze.

Adrienne did not have any of the child's experiences with the game of Monster Maze. When she saw that an electronic facehugger was approaching the dot on the screen from behind a corner, her first initial reaction was to get away from it, especially since the program itself urged her to hide. She was about to use the mouse to move the dot into a bigger duct on the screen when Newt halted her.

"No, no! No!" the child protested. "Can't go that way! There're evil eyes in that tunnel!"

The doctor threw an incredulous glance at the girl. "Evil eyes?"

Newt realized that she was too immersed in the game. "I meant securcams. That tunnel used to be one of the main air-dispersion lines with filters and fans and other air-propelling stuff. Those areas were always monitored and watched from operations for disturbances, we called those cameras 'evil eyes' in the game. First rule of Monster Maze was to never let the adults know that we were in there, so none of us ever walked out into those ducts. It's no-go zones."

"And you think that rule applies here?"

"The challenge text did say to be mindful of the rules of the game."

"Ok, but what are we supposed to do then? That scutter creature will come around that corner in just a few seconds and spot us. Are we going back?"

"Zoom in," the child instructed. "I remember that there's a service hatch to some cable lines there somewhere."

Adrienne scrolled in on the dot's present location and just like Newt had said, a closer view revealed that there was indeed a small hatch in the floor of the duct. Clicking the left button on the mouse, she managed to uncover the hole and moved the dot inside. She managed to close the manhole just in time before the electronic facehugger came around the corner. The problem was that the creature was beginning to sentry the duct-line above their position and was in no hurry to scuttle away.

"Great. What to do now?" Adrienne muttered.

"Crawl on," Newt said. "There was another service hatch a bit further up where we can get out and get back on the right track."

"Was that cable-conduit really meant to be a crawl-way?"

"Nope. That was too tight for everybody to go through… except for me. I could go where my competitors could not."

Suddenly an alarm blared.

"What?" Newt gasped out perplexed. "That's what I did, why does it protest?"

"That ain't you!" Hicks called out behind her. "That's our proximity alert! One of our early warning systems have been triggered!"

"By what?" Johner asked.

"What do you think?" Hicks shot at him while he rushed to another computer console to check the source of the disturbance. "The critters are moving in on our position!"

"The _bugs?_" Johner burst out. "I though you said we were _safe_ here?!"

"Nothing's completely safe where they're concerned!" the corporal said as he grabbed a rifle. All of the other soldiers whom up until now had sat completely impassively in their spots stood ready at attention.

"Get to your posts!" Hicks ordered the troopers. "You newbies had better make yourself useful. Johner, you go with Galna and his team to the north gate. Andersson, you take up position with Forster's team to guard the east gate. Ryan, I want you to…"

"Forget it, butthead!" Ryan sneered.

"So you're just going to sit here on your fat ass while the rest of us fights to save your skin? Fine, I suppose you'd just get in the way anyway. But don't expect anybody to make the trouble to liberate your sorry hide when trouble comes knocking on your door! You're on your _own_ from here on!"

"Hicks?" Newt called out worriedly.

"Remain here with doctor Kinloch, honey," the other instructed her. "Continue with what you're doing. It's very imperative that we get access to that disc, and you're the only one who can do it. Felger will remain with you to cover you, but it should not come to that. We'll take care of this before it turns bad, so don't you worry."

"Be careful out there," Adrienne passed out. Hicks waved a hand in a thank-you and then turned to another.

"Ripley, you're with me! Let's move out!"

"Hold on a moment here, soldier boy," Johner objected. "Who made _you_ leader over us?"

"Do as he says, Johner!" Ripley shot at him. "And that is by the command of your captain of the _Betty_!"

Johner was heard murmuring something that the ship didn't exist anymore, but went out to do the appointed task – under silent protest.

* * *

Hicks had sent small legions over to the points where he feared that the aliens would make an attempt to break through, but he and Ripley were the only ones moving to a completely different section of the 'safehouse'.

"Why are we going this way?" the woman asked.

"Because around here is where I suspect the aliens will make their attempt to get in."

"Why?"

"One thing I've learned about the creatures while being holed up in here is that they never attack the same place twice. They systematically test the structures for weaknesses and for possible defenses. If they can't get in from one place, they'll seek out another. They remember."

"Did they ever try to get in through the north and east gates?"

"They did. We fended them off."

"Then why send the troops over to guard those areas?"

"Begging your pardon, Ripley, but I don't know your people. I have no way of knowing how well they'll handle the crisis of an alien incursion, so I prefer to have them out of the way for the time being. To be frank, I don't even trust _my_ people all the way. Most of them are suffering from post-traumatic stresses, and I don't want any of them to snap in the place where we're going."

"What's over there?" Ripley asked.

Hicks halted in his tracks as he heard a pounding noise. "You're about to find out," he muttered to the woman.

"That's them, all right." It wasn't just the reverberating booms and the nerve-racking sound of claws scraping on steel that gave it away – Ripley could feel their presence in the back of her mind. She felt their rage and their determination to get through the barrier that was separating them from their desired prey.

The area the two humans arrived to didn't look to be something particularly special to Ripley: just a secluded corner with pipes and pressure valves – and a big welded steel barricade that was vibrating from the massive attack that was coming on from the outside. The welding was already beginning to crack.

"Not much time!" Hicks grumbled as he rushed over to a pile of coiled hoses. "Help me out here!"

Ripley followed, but she was growing a bit impatient. "You're going to have to talk to me, Dwayne! What are you up to?"

"Ever since the fiasco back at Hadley's Hope, I've been trying to anticipate any possible route the buggers would try to get into and countermeasure those!" Hicks was busy uncoiling the large heavy hose as he explained this. "This time 'round we don't have any robot-sentry units to greet them with, so I had to improvise!"

He dragged a hose towards the barrier on which the aliens outside were still pounding on and he instructed Ripley to do the same with another. The other ends of the two hoses were already attached to the pipelines above them.

"See those round metal ports in the barrier?" Hicks was pointing out two circular orifices imbedded in the armored plate – one on each side close to the edges of the big barrier. The holes were sealed with silvery irises within. "They're gas ducts! You're supposed to plug a hose to either side and allow gas to run through the walls."

Ripley gave him a skeptical look. "You're gonna gas 'em?" Surely the corporal knew that gas did not have any special effect on the aliens?

"I'm going to do more than that. The pipes above you? They're the gas pressure relief-lines to the secondary/supportive fuel-injectors for the engines. You're standing beneath rocket fuel!"

"The fumes from that is deadly to breath in," Ripley commented.

"It's also highly flammable," Hicks added. "It burns hotter and fiercer than any other known fuel. It needs to in order to shoot the rocket off the ground and out into space. That's why I didn't want any unstable trooper in here with us who would accidently cause a breach."

Ripley was starting to see what the improvised countermeasure was about. "You're planning to pump out the fumes through the gas ports to the side where the aliens are and set it on fire – like flamethrowers!"

"And here are the ignitors!" Hicks threw a crude device to the woman. It was basically a thick nozzle that would fit into the ports of the barrier with some different packs of things slapped onto the surface which Ripley couldn't guess what they were. The only identifiable thing was a piece that resembled a trigger.

"I probably broke a dozen different safety protocols putting these things together," Hicks said with a smile as he fastened a similar device to the port nearest him to his right. "But as long as they do the trick and save our lives, then who gives a damn? We have to be careful though not allowing them to burn too long, or the fire will melt the barricade and nozzles alike." He now connected the end of one of the hoses they'd dragged out to the ignitor. Ripley did the same with the other on the left end of the vibrating barrier. Unbeknownst to what was happening, the aliens outside continued hammering on the steel plate which began to give away more and more.

"We're ready!" Hicks announced as he made a quick check on the connections. "I'm opening the valves! Keep an eye on the indicator on your nozzle. Once it goes red, it's been pressurized. Remember that you first have to pull the tab on top of the port to open the iris within to let the fumes out, and then you'll pull the trigger to ignite it!"

"You got it!" Ripley called back, standing prepared. Hicks turned the wheel of the valve and released the fumes of the rocket fuel into the hoses. The pressure built up quickly and it took only a few seconds for the indicator to change color. "Ready!" Ripley called out and drew the tab on the side of the port to open the way.

"Do it!" Hicks shouted as he hurried to his position on the other end of barricade to do the same. Ripley was just about to pull the trigger to set the fumes aflame… when her head suddenly felt like it was about to explode. Crying out in pain, she staggered away from the barrier as she clutched her aching skull between her hands.

"Ripley?" Hicks gasped out. A voice escaped the depths of the female's throat, but it sounded too guttural to belong to the woman.

"_\- You dare not do that! Those are our children!"_

"They… r-rejected youuuu…!" Ripley's real voice groaned out between her agonizing gasps.

Raksha, for it was indeed Ripley's alter ego, replied menacingly. _"- They were just confused! I'll make them see me for the one I truly am! But not if you kill them! Did you really think that I would just stand by and let you do it? __**Did**__ you?!"_

Raksha may have stopped Ripley, but Hicks was not bound by her influence. He reached for the trigger of his own ignitor and pulled it. The sound of the banging on the welded barrier was suddenly replaced by a whooshing sound together with the screams of the creatures burning on the other side. Hicks could hear their screams of agony in the back of his head – but so could Raksha.

"NOOO!" she screamed in protest, spinning towards him.

Hicks knew that he had to act quickly, and he dived for the other ignitor that was attached to the other gas-duct in the barricade that was now already beginning to increase in temperature. Raksha snarled and rushed him. The body of the possessed woman slammed into his and knocked him into the surface, but he managed to reach the other trigger with his outstretched fingers. Just as the wind was knocked out of him, he pulled it, and the whooshing sound was increased by another. Hicks knew that the corridor on the other side was now filled from wall to wall with a blazing inferno that was incinerating whatever there were on that side. Raksha knew this too, and it filled her with tremendous rage. She pressed him up against the barrier and was about to choke the life out of him.

Hicks would have to solve this problem quickly, for a new danger was at hand. The make-shift flamethrowers coupled into the barrier were not meant to be left on. If he didn't shut them off, both the nozzles and the barricade would grow dangerously hot and melt. Worse: if the overheating got out of control, the slag from the melting nozzles would travel backwards and ignite the fumes within the hoses on _their_ side, making the fire run through the pipes and into the tanks with rocket fuel – and that would blow the entire complex up, and them along with it. Hicks could even now feel the heat from the barrier on which Raksha was pressing him up against burn into his back.

"Ripley! Snap out of it!" he rasped out under the chokehold.

The woman wasn't listening. Lost in her own rage, the demon moved her face in closer attempting to sink her teeth into the flesh of the soldier's throat. Hicks had no choice but to do something he otherwise would never do: he started to slap her in the face. "Come back, Ripley!"

The demon hardly flinched, but neither would she take it without returning the favor. She swung out with her own hand and threw it against the corporal's face. Hicks saw it coming, and thanks to his soldier reflexes he managed to follow the punch through by turning his head along with the flying fist and diminish the impact. But there was still enough power in it to make him see stars. His jaw had once been broken and he did not want to take another punch like that to it.

"_Stop it, Ripley!"_ he gasped.

"- She's _not _here!" Raksha snarled as she threw her fist against him again. Hicks managed to duck just in time before it connected, and the other's hand slammed into the steel barricade behind him. There was a deep dent left in the surface after that punch, but the woman hardly seemed to notice at all despite that she normally should have broken every bone in her hand.

"_God dammit!_" Hicks knew that the demon was trying to kill him. He could no longer be gentle about this – if he wanted to survive, he would have to give everything he'd got without holding back. In desperation, his former slaps went into full punches with clenched fists. At first the woman didn't seem to react, but as his punches became harder and harder, the other finally began to stagger away.

"_Snap!_" Punch. "_Out!_" Punch. "_Of!_" Punch. "_It!_" The last hard punch managed to throw her off him. Finally free to move around, Hicks reached for the ignitor devices and closed the circuit to the streaming fumes, killing the fire. However they were extremely hot to touch – hadn't his hands been bandaged after the little incident in the elevator shaft, he would never have been able to put his hands on them.

Not daring to take any chance, Hicks made use of the security measure he had prepared should things with the alien trap go awry. There was a canister of liquid nitrogen nearby. (Thank you for that, McHagen.) The weapon meant to drive the aliens back into their pens was the only bottle they had managed to salvage, and Hicks had suspected that it would be put to the best use here. He started to spray the overheated devices with the super cold liquid and shortly afterwards, they became cool enough to not pose a danger anymore. Letting out a breath of relief, he slumped against the now cold surface of the barrier – and then he remembered that the woman was still there with him, and she was looking at him. Fearing the worst, he raised his fist – but thankfully the fight seemed to have gone out of her.

"Damn," she murmured while massaging her aching jaw. "She really overwhelmed me this time."

"Please tell me it's you, Ripley!" Hicks pleaded.

"She's much stronger than I thought," the woman muttered dejectedly as she drew her hand over her upper lip. It came away with blood, but it wasn't a result from the punches to her face. She was bleeding from her nose again, her acidic blood having dissolved the thin veins up there once more. The corrosive properties of her bodily life-fluids increased for every time Raksha came forward attempting to seize control of her mind – how long would it be before it became too strong for her normal blood vessels to contain the acid? What would happen then? Would she burn up from the inside or would she bleed to death?

"I never realized how big a problem this really was," Hicks said revealingly troubled. "You're _schizophrenic!_"

"_No_, it's not like _that!_" Ripley sounded almost panicked. "Raksha is another _entity_, not a second personality!"

"That doesn't sound any more reassuring!"

Ripley sighed. "I suppose it doesn't. The worst part is that I am not sure how to deal with her. You knocked some sense into me this time, but I don't know what will happen next time around. She's relentless… she wants to live just as much as I."

"This had better not end up me being forced to shoot you," Hicks grumbled. Ripley refrained from saying that there might come a time when it would come down to that.

"Don't tell Newt about this!" she said instead. Hicks did not give a reply, but he did give her a look that clearly said that he preferred that the woman wouldn't go anywhere near the child in case that Raksha character decided to show her ugly side again.

A quick inspection of the make-shift flamethrowers revealed that the devices had been fused to the surface of the barrier, the materials having melted together. They could not be used again. But hopefully they would not be needed anymore: the aliens should think now that this area was impenetrable and deadly and would not come this way again - they would have to find another way in. What troubled Hicks was that he was running out of counter measures – soon there would be no stopping them. But with any luck, the humans would soon have access to that disc Newt and doctor Kinloch were working on and then they would hopefully be able to come up with a new plan that would vanquish the buggers once and for all.


	26. The ghost in the machine

With the recent attempted alien incursion having been fended off, Hicks pulled most of the troopers that he'd put on duty when the crisis occurred back from the gates and from the other points where there had been a risk of the critters getting inside. They should be safe for the moment, and he wanted his men rested.

The reports he got from his men concerning the newbies confirmed his previous suspicions: the last bunch of people he had brought into the safehouse had been of no help at all. The burly man Johner had only stood to the side by the north gate, keeping no lookout and not contributing to patrolling the perimeter. Ensign Andersson who'd been positioned by the east gate had been no better… while Johner had spent his time being sour, Andersson had just been wimpy, crying of the danger he was in. Maybe Hicks was being a little unfair to him: the aliens could turn even the bravest man into a terrified wreck – but if Andersson did not start try to shape up, there would be no way he was going to survive this.

Where Keevan Felger was concerned, it was a deliberate decision made by Hicks to leave him out of it. He was way too distraught by the death of his brother and would for the moment not work well out in the field. Hicks didn't even stop to evaluate Zack Ryan: that uncooperative runt had already made it clear that he wouldn't contribute to anything.

Hicks' best hope had laid with Ripley – but after the incident with her alter ego personality of Raksha breaking out and attacking him, the corporal couldn't really trust her either. Right now he even had second thoughts about having her in his midst. He needed something better than this bunch.

The only real valuable asset of the latest people he had brought into their midst from Hicks' point of view was Newt, and her contribution for resolving the problem of their predicament seemed about ready to pay off by the time the teams had got back to operations. The child and the doctor were still going through the challenges of the disc they were trying to access, but the girl declared that the two were about to reach their goal. Just like in a puzzle book for kids, there was a wavy red line with sharp turns drawn clearly prominent along the duct network maze showing the way they had passed on the computer screen.

"Now if only that last arachnid bugger doesn't suddenly cut into our path, the rest of the way should be clear," Adrienne mumbled.

"Take a right," Newt said. "We'll take a detour through the overhead air-duct and go above the critter. That way it won't see us."

Adrienne did exactly what the girl said now. She had given up trying to counter-play the program herself at this point. The spectators waited patiently, and then finally the girls had led the dot in the program into Newt's old 'cave of solitude', to safety and thereby completing the challenge. A text showed up.

YOU MADE IT!

"Well done, Newt," Hicks passed to the girl. She smiled.

The screen emptied, save strangely enough for the red line they had drawn up – that positioned itself down at the bottom of the screen. The program itself seemed to go into a 'screen-saver' mode, because the pixels moved around like a whirlpool flowing towards the center.

"So what now?" Adrienne asked nobody in particular. "I hope that's just a form of a 'busy-bar' running while the program is loading. We should have completed the tasks now and get access to the files." Newt only shrugged while she scratched Jones behind his ears.

A new message showed up:

PLEASE STAND BY.

"This is getting annoying!" the doctor grumbled. "It better not be stuck! After all the trouble we went through to get into this thing, I'd really like to get a look at all those files now! I don't fancy the idea of having to go through all of this again!"

"Wasn't that much trouble for me," Newt said. She was right now a bit euphoric. "I thought it was easy. Bishop should have known better than to try and beat _me_ in Monster Maze."

"- I wasn't trying to beat you, Newt. You did exactly what I _expected_ you to do."

Everybody in the room were looking around at each other in confusion. That voice had not been spoken aloud from any physical being present. It had come from the speakers.

"Who said that?" Adrienne sputtered out.

The flowing pixels on the screen suddenly merged together and started to build up an image. It took the shape of a floating human head against a black background, and by using the screen's 3-D conversion, the head took the distinguished features of a face – a face that was unfamiliar to most of the people present, but clearly recognizable to a select few. Hicks burst out laughing.

"With all the people said to be dead keep showing up at the doorstep, I'm actually not one _bit_ surprised! How're you doing, Bishop?"

"- Considering how the circumstances were never always in our favor and the fact that I am currently lacking a body, I'm quite well, thank you Hicks. I am most pleased to see you again, and you too, Newt. And Ripley… you are the biggest surprise to find here, but not at all disappointing."

"'lo, Bishop," Ripley said calmly in reply giving no hint if she was as surprised of the developments as the others.

Newt was overjoyed to find one more of her past friends still to be alive. "Bishop? Were you in the _disc_ all along?"

The image of the android smiled. "- Not exactly. A digital copy of my personality matrix could never fit into the limited space on that disc even without all the data about the Xenomorphs written on it. What I _did_ include on it though was a reboot code that was meant to summon me from the web which activated automatically the first time the disc was being used. It was part of my own escape plan from the _Hercules_."

"Your _escape_ plan?" Hicks questioned. "You know, that does bring up the little matter of you supposing to destroy the derelict with the _Hercules_!"

"- That was indeed the plan," Bishop confirmed. "- but I was hindered by Colonel Decker. My plan was to set the collision course for the _Hercules_ to crash into the derelict and then transmit my program into the colonists' orbiting relay satellite and through it store my matrix on the internet until the time came when somebody would make use of the disc I gave to Newt. Colonel Decker had however, since he was an android himself, transmitted _his_ program into the _Hercules'_ main data bank. He seized control of the ship and made me overshoot the mark, as well as keeping me too busy to evacuate my own consciousness."

"So it _was_ him!" the corporal scowled. "I should have _known_ that stone-cold bastard would interfere!"

"- At least some parts of my plan worked out despite that," Bishop calmly continued. Opposite to Hicks, he felt no need to display an emotional outburst for the leader of the 'Rawhides' actions. "- My program has been reinitiated, which means that the flight recorder on which my matrix was originally stored has been recovered and is connected to a computer somewhere."

Adrienne had the answer to that. "Makes sense, if your program was written on a flight recorder. The salvage team looking through the wreck of the _Hercules_ found several damaged ones that had survived the crash somewhat laying strewed around the area and they have worked non-stop to recover the data using supportive computers with reconstructive programs. They never really discontinued the job until they were taken by the creatures, so those black boxes are still hooked up somewhere in one of the labs."

The image of Bishop's face smiled. "- And then _you_ tried to access the disc, Dr. Kinloch, which automatically activated the reboot code, summoning me."

"You know my name?"

"- I know more than you think. From the first time you tried to access the disc some months ago, my consciousness was activated – but my files were corrupted which I now understand was because of the damage the flight recorder had sustained when the _Hercules_ was destroyed. It was fortunate that the armor I was reconstructed inside helped to protect the black box somewhat from the impact to the ground. As it was: I was suffering from amnesia. I didn't know who I was or what my functions were - and my capabilities were quite limited: I could only observe, not interfere. I only had one basic task known to me and that was to learn, so I set out to learn everything! I used that time to read up on everything that has been going on here, learning all that I needed to know and familiarize myself with the personnel being staffed here. I was a 'ghost in the machine', so to speak - only I didn't know what to do with all of that data. It wasn't until Newt gave you full access to the disc that I recovered my memory, once again knowing my function and gaining the full capability to interact with you."

"How's that?" Hicks asked.

"- Remember when the doctors on the _Hercules_ revived you using me to mimic your brainwave patterns? I encoded the same principal into the disc. By having Newt draw up the wavelength of my matrix, I got the key to decrypt my corrupted files and restore them – in effect: restoring _me!_"

Newt frowned. "Draw up your wave… what? How did I do that?"

"- By making you play a game of Monster Maze." A small window opened up on the screen, which showed the red line that had been drawn up in the passageway Newt and Adrienne had passed when 'playing' the game. Adrienne was a biologist and not a mechanic, but she could now see that the red wavy line, clear of the rest of the airduct network from the complex of Hadley's Hope actually looked like an electronic frequency pattern. The doctor didn't know whether to be amazed or angered.

"The route the challenge of the game made us take… the ducts we couldn't go into… it was all _deliberate! _We've been _used!_"

"- Sorry for that, but it was necessary," Bishop said. "- Although access to the files were restricted, I couldn't take the chance that some hacker would eventually manage to get into them and misuse the information. The hidden frequency was the safeguard to fully summon me and allow me to stop any unauthorized use should it become necessary."

Hicks chuckled. "You're one sneaky devil, Bishop."

Some of the others in the room weren't so impressed though. "Great," Johner growled loudly. "So we got another toaster oven! How does this help us?"

"- It helps you a great deal, Mr. Ron Johner," Bishop said firmly. "- Since _I_ was the one writing the disc, you don't need to spend time looking through it. I have instant access to everything you need, and I know exactly what you require to evade the aliens in order to implement Hicks' plan to destroy them!"

Hicks' interest instantly raised to its highest peak. "Whoa there… you mean you _know_ about my plan as well?"

"- But of course," Bishop confirmed. "- This rocket we're in is primarily one big military laboratory which is full-time monitored 24-7 by hidden cameras and microphones to cover every angle of possible breakthroughs or to register failures. The military won't risk any chances to miss anything vital, so nothing that goes on here is a secret."

"Figures," Adrienne snorted, reacting to the part that the military was snooping in everything.

"- As I've already said: I've been a ghost in the machine ever since the first time the disc was attempted to be used. I have observed everything the complex has observed during that time... until the blackout, that is. I went offline along with the power and wasn't rebooted until Newt and Dr. Kinloch started up the disc again. But it doesn't seem that I have missed that much..."

"Good for you!" Hicks waved it impatiently away. "Just skip to the part where you said that you know what we need! How do we evade the aliens?"

"- Please gather around the holo-display table."

They all complied, expectant to see what kind of solution the disembodied synthetic was going to offer them. As soon as the people stood ready around the table, the holo-projector came on and displayed a three-dimensional image that floated above the surface. Hicks was a little confounded by the choice of picture: it showed the cargo-hold of the derelict where the alien eggs had been stored. As far as he knew, he was the only one present aside from Bishop who had seen the hold in person.

"- First a little technical background:" Bishop's bodyless voice said. "- The race of the space jockey used a security barrier which lay as a shield just above the eggs, emitted from a mound on the floor together with additional projectors on the walls as shown. This barrier blocks all biological senses the xenomorphic species possesses to detect potential hosts on the other side."

Just to prove what he was talking about, Bishop allowed a featureless humanoid figure to walk along the 'bridge' just above the shield. From the eggs underneath the barrier, computerized simulated echo-waves emitted from the ovoid shapes in pulses, seeking out the new presence. But the waves bounced on the energy barrier, unable to penetrate it, so the humanoid remained undetected.

"- I've seen this work personally, so this is not a hoax. It is this energy technology we ourselves need to harness, and utilize for our purpose."

The image of the cargo-hold was dumped, and from the void left behind some strange mechanical pieces showed up as if floating up from a bottomless hole and they shaped together into a crude-looking device in front of the spectators eyes. The featureless humanoid came into view again, stretching out an arm. The finished device locked itself around the humanoid's left wrist.

"What's that? A wristwatch?" Ripley commented incredulously.

"- Much more sophisticated than that, I assure you," Bishop said without having taken insult to the woman's skepticism. The holographic humanoid was now shown standing on a walkway, and was approached by a full-grown alien warrior. The simulated echo-waves emitted from the drone's forehead and it detected the other figure, the digitilized monster flexing its hands in anticipation. It would have looked comical hadn't the situation been so serious in real life.

The simulated humanoid figure reached out with its arms, the right hand seeking out the armband around the left wrist. The digits of the right hand pressed on the device, and suddenly the body was surrounded by the energy-field that was earlier shown in the cargo-hold covering the eggs, but this time it was covering the human. The simulated alien warrior kept emitting the echo-waves from its forehead, but those pulses now bounced off the shield. To the drone, the humanoid had become invisible. It turned around and jumped out of the image, leaving the human unharmed. Of all of them watching, Hicks was the one who got most excited.

"A personal _cloaking_ shield?!"

"- Not a cloaking shield," Bishop clarified. "- It's more of a bio-stealth barrier. The spectrum of light humans have for eyesight can still see through it, but the xenomorphs uses other methods to detect their prey which is incapable of penetrating the energy field which the race of the space jockey…"

Hicks interrupted the other. "It works against _them!_ That's all I care about! And it is doable? We can make these?"

"- Two hundred years ago, we could not. I told Colonel Decker as much. But today, I dare to think that human technology may have advanced enough to make an adequate adaption of the device. At least I hope so."

Hicks would not let himself be swayed from this new possibility. "We'll make do! Show us how to do it! What do we need to build these?"

"- It's quite ironic that Colonel Decker managed to stop me from destroying the derelict, because we _need_ it now!" From the holo-display table a new device was visualized – this one looking like a solid box of a kind.

"- What we need to do first is to collect a fair amount of the energy which is the derelict's power-source. If you can build this battery-box after my specifications, we will be able to accumulate the energy and contain it until we can put it to use."

Hicks turned to one of the more quiet people standing around the table. "What do you think, Felger? You're the closest thing we have to a technician, you having built sophisticated bombs and such! Can you do it?"

Keevan Felger looked at the holographic picture solemnly. "I suppose I could," he said with a sigh. "Building it isn't that hard, considering that this Bishop of yours is providing us with all the technical details. What I lack is the _equipment!_ Tools and parts." He went depressed again. "The tool pouch was with my brother…"

"We'll get the parts!" Hicks said determinately. "We'll make a list."

"- You'll need a long list," Bishop interjected. "Building that battery pack is the easy part. But if you can't build the armbands that will produce the bio-stealth field, you can just drop the whole matter right now."

"Let's hear it!"

"- I must warn you right now that the battery is only capable of storing the power – to release it for our use to create an anti-bio field requires a different form of emitter that can harness the energy and keep it contained – otherwise it will erupt in an uncontrollable cascade and do massive harm. For the base housing of the armbands, you will need the same material the derelict is made of. It is impervious to the energy."

Galna, one of the first rebels that had sprung Hicks from his cell after the aliens had broken out had up until now just stood to the side and listened. Now he stepped forward: "Shouldn't be too much of a problem. The scientists took a lot of samples from the ship to study. I heard they were quite hard to cut loose, but in the end they managed to get some. Of course, those are in another lab, so we're going to have to go out of the safehouse and get them."

"The risks are worth it," Hicks said. "Is that all? Doesn't sound so problematic…?"

"- That is not all," Bishop shot in. "- Here is where the _real_ problem starts. Look at the holograph…" Everybody gathered around the table viewer again. The 3-D picture of the armband still fastened around the humanoid's arm was enlarged, and they could now see that the shell of the device was basically a tiny bowl constructed from the material of the derelict, and a small power pack was to be placed inside it.

"- This is the snag we would never be able to overcome back in our time," Bishop said in a serious tone. "- To use the energy that is to be released from the power pack safely, the whole package needs to be sealed with a cap made from a biological compound that can also be found on the derelict. The trick is to seal the whole thing hermetically to the cup!"

"So we glue it together," Hicks stated dismissively. "I see no problem with that…"

"- That's the thing, Hicks: you _can't_ just glue it! It won't hold. And you can't fuse it either as it will damage the biostructure. If the cap is not fastened properly the way it needs to be, the energy released will break the seal and cause serious damage!" To prove his point, the armband around the digitalized humanoid's left arm seemed to explode, and the energy released cascaded around the simulated humanoid's body, the power engulfing 'him', and 'he' went down.

"Are you saying _that_ will happen if the power isn't contained properly?" Hicks asked, not unmoved by what he had just seen.

"- Like all kinds of electricity, it seeks to return to the ground, and it will pass through anything that can serve as a conductor. But not only that: the space jockey's people has created a power-source that seeks to multiply itself if not contained. The energy has the ability to consume matter and convert those into more energy until it gets tremendously overloaded."

"I get it. You don't fool around with electricity. What do we need to do to seal it?"

"- The hard material of the derelict is part organic – whatever technology the race of the space jockey possessed, they used it to weave together the rock-like substance to seal it. There is another kind of material: a silicone-like soft membrane which they use as buttons."

"I've seen them." Hicks was thinking of the squishy buttons on the panel in the control pit by the side of the platform on the derelict's bridge.

"- Those membranes are also basically organic – it needs to be _grown_ from the bowl that houses the power pack and knitted together all the way around until it's completely hermitically sealed as a cover."

Hicks stood with his mouth agape. "We need to _grow_ it?!"

"- It's the only way to make a strong sturdy seal that'll be able to contain the energy. I believe the space jockey's people used a psychic link to instruct the materials to merge together. The derelict is a self-healing ship as long as its pilot is connected with it. It's the perfect craft…"

"But we _humans _don't possess that kind of power!"

The face of Bishop looked apologetic. "- Unless you have a way to grow a cover to the device, then there's no way to make it work. It'll be a death trap unless the energy can be contained. It's useless to us otherwise."

"So we need a _new_ plan?"

"- I'm afraid so."

Hicks slammed his fist to the table. "Damn! That was our _best_ shot!"

"Hold on," Adrienne interrupted. "Bishop, did you say that this membrane you speak of is basically biological, and it's grown into place?"

"- That's right, doctor," Bishop confirmed.

"You don't happen to have a bio-chemical chart of its base cellular composition, do you?"

"- I do, actually," Bishop said merrily and before Adrienne's eyes, a list of chemical data was holographically displayed. To everybody else the data was complete gibberish, but Adrienne Kinloch was a doctor in biology, making this her area of expertise. She studied the charts for a while thoroughly, absentmindedly scratching her jaw with her fingers, and mumbling quietly to herself.

"It's possible," she finally said aloud. "It should be able to do it."

"What can do it?" Hicks asked.

"There's a machine aboard the _Athena_ that should be able to replicate this bio-silicon compound. It's a dermal regenerator. I used it to produce and graft new skin to Newt's chest. I do believe it's capable of handling these biological properties as well - the base chemicals are well within its limitations."

A new hope was sparkled within Hicks. "I've heard of 'Dermipatch', but not of a dermal regenerator."

"No big surprise," Adrienne said with a shrug. "The technology isn't that old, only around twelve years. They're quite scarce as they are so complicated and expensive to build, so we're damn lucky those have been included into the humanitarian vessels. We need to get it here though from the _Athena_. _And_ I require a sample of the bio-silicon membrane for it to analyze and duplicate before I can produce it."

"I'll take care of that," Ripley said. "Anything else?"

"- Yes," Bishop said. "The cup of the armband need to be filled with a fluid that will help disperse the energy."

"Fluid? What kind of fluid?"

"- It requires a fluid that is both insulating and conductive to energy at the same time. But that is within our human technical capability. An artificial person's synthetic life-fluid will be sufficient."

"_Android_ fluid?!" Adrienne burst out. "Now that's one hell of a snag! Androids hasn't been in service anywhere since the big robot rebellion that buried the synthetic industry all those years ago! We ain't got any of those here, and synthetic fluid isn't exactly something you keep in stock. Neither do we have the means to make any!"

"We used to have a toaster oven, but she's been destroyed," Johner shot in callously. It annoyed Ripley that the big burly man would speak so disrespectful of their fallen comrade.

"Call's dead, but she's not gone," Ripley informed everybody. "Her body is still in the wreckage of the _Betty_. There should still be some fluids in her left to collect."

"- If you can get half a gallon of it, it'll be enough, depending on how many armbands you wish to make," Bishop said.

"Please tell me that's it!"

"- That's it."

"So if we sum this up: build a battery to collect some volts of the derelict's energy source and get a sample of the biological membrane at the same time. Get to the _Athena_ docked at the habitat complex and fetch the dermal regenerator. Then hike out to the wreck of the _Betty_ and mop up some android fluid and come back here. Have we covered it all?"

Hicks added a few more tasks. "Another group is to head out to the laboratories to collect the ore samples taken from the derelict's hull. Once we got everything, we build the cloaking armbands, get to the engine room and connect the fuel lines to the afterburners without the critters knowing we're there, set the rocket to take off, evacuate, and watch the alien suckers blast off into the sky and blow up." He flashed out a winning smile as he put his hands together before pushing them apart, spreading them to the sides. "_Whoosh_. Piece of cake!" Newt giggled.

"So, who's volunteering?" Adrienne asked. "Who's going out to the ships?"

Ripley gave the doctor a shrewd look. "I was under the impression that I already _had_ volunteered. I'm the only one who knows where the wreck of the _Betty_ is anyway."

"Well, you can't go out there alone!" Adrienne pointed out. "You need the bus to get to the derelict and then to the other complex."

"No, I don't."

"Are you nuts? Were you thinking of going out there without a hazard suit? It's a nuclear winter outside!"

"Did you see me carry one when I got here?"

Adrienne jerked back. "You're telling me you've been _out_ there without any protection gear?! You _madwoman_, you may have contaminated _all_ of us if you're irradiated!"

"Relax!" Ripley told the other firmly. "I was decontaminated when I stepped through the locks. And my enhanced physiology can withstand radioactive environments."

"I should have checked you as well when you got here!" Adrienne spat as she fetched a Geiger meter. "Instead I let the treachery of my father cloud my judgement!"

Ripley rolled her eyes towards the roof while the doctor scanned her. The young woman looked skeptically at the readouts. "It really does look like you're not carrying any dangerous high-level particles…"

"I said as much."

"That doesn't give you the _right_ to play with our lives… or with the life of the little girl!" The last words were like a slap to Ripley's face.

"You're taking the bus over there," Adrienne continued. "…but someone needs to go with you to drive it back. We need it to room everybody in it when we evacuate."

"Always do what the doctor orders," Hicks commented.

"I suggest you start with the _Athena_," the doctor went on. "Once you have the dermal regenerator, take one of the ambulances that's docked to its back. They can travel over rough terrains whereas the bus cannot, _and_ they have hazard suits stashed onboard. Find your ship, collect the android fluid and finish with the derelict on the way back to accumulate its power together with a sample of that bio-silicone material. In that order you can avoid any more exposure to the nuclear polluted atmosphere all the way."

"You're thinking like a true military strategist, doctor," Hicks said.

"If that was meant as a compliment, it's not really appreciated, considering how the military agendas always clashes with my own," she replied somewhat sourly. Hicks decided not to argue on the matter.

"What about the other hull-materials?" Ripley asked.

"I will lead a team out to the other laboratories to retrieve them," Hicks declared. "It has to be me. I can hear in my mind if there are any critters around coming to jump us."

"I still don't get how you gained that ability to hear them?"

"Neither do I… but _now_ I have the opportunity to ask!" He turned to the viewscreen where Bishop's bodyless head floated. "I gained the ability to _communicate_ with the aliens! That 'royal jelly' you injected me with on the _Hercules_ which turned the drone into a queen… does that have something to do with it?"

"- Most certainly," Bishop answered with a hint of interest. "- In the lower part of your brainstem you have the reticular formation. It's the part of your brain that determines alertness, your perception of things. It is not unlikely that the royal jelly, whose purpose is to alter the original genetic make-up of the embryo, got into your blood-stream and travelled to your brain and, shall we say: enhanced the reticular formation to be receptive to the xenomorph's way of communication."

"I take that as a big yes," Hicks returned. "I just hope it won't do any more than that!"

"- With such a small amount, I don't think you have anything to worry about. It requires a much higher dose of the jelly to make some extreme alterations to your DNA like it did to Ripley's shipmates on the _Nostromo._"

"I'm going to hold you to that," Hicks mumbled.

* * *

Before Ripley was to go out on her retrieval mission, they needed to construct a battery in order to collect the power from the derelict. Hicks' guerilla team had before now scavenged a lot of hardware when they'd settled in as they didn't know beforehand what they would need. They were now looking through the pile of electronic junk searching for the proper equipment.

"It's not the _parts _that is the problem!" Keevan Felger said insistently to Hicks. "From what I've seen of Bishop's schematics, I got what I need here to build that battery!"

"Then what _is_ the problem?" Hicks asked persistently.

"Tools! I'm going to need some fine-point screwdrivers if I am to put this thing together! And I could also do with a welding unit!"

"We got welders," the corporal said. "As for tools, that might be a problem. The scientists working here were basically biologists – they generally don't use stuff from a hardware store when conducting their researches."

Felger made a show of slapping down his hand on a piece of machinery he didn't know what it originally was for. "Well, if someone can't produce a proper tool to strip the cover off this thing without damaging it and allow me to get what's inside it, than we can just forget the whole idea!"

Hicks looked around. "Anybody got any innovative thoughts to the problem?" It didn't look like anyone had. It was a sad reminder that none of Hicks' own guerilla team were any real technicians, and the rest of the surviving pirates didn't seem all that eager to offer any solutions. Johner was a wrecker, no help there – and the runt Zack Ryan just stood to the side by himself, intent on letting everybody else do the dirty work. Then a tiny voice called Hicks' attention.

"Would you like me to do it?" Newt asked, holding up the battery-operated motor-driven polysizable screwdriver she'd carried with her ever since they had escaped from the _Hercules_.

The corporal broke out into a smile. "I had forgotten that you had that thing. Please go ahead, kiddo. Amazing that you still got it."

"Why wouldn't I?" the child asked as she activated the motor and began to unscrew the cover of the apparatus. "I'm not letting this thing out of my sight… not until I'm able to return it one day!"

Newt didn't see the troubled expression on Hicks' face from her strange choice of words of a vow… but she did see the wide-eyed look of shock on Keevan Felger's face. "What?" she asked the remaining twin.

"Is _that_… a Mega Ti 6-4 Poly-driver?!"

Newt looked down on the expensive tool with uncertainty. She had never heard that designation before. "…I don't know? Maybe?"

"Where'd you get it?!" the other demanded to know.

"It belongs to my friend," the girl said, feeling troubled by the other's persistence.

Hicks came to her aid. "She came by it 200 years ago when befriending a civilian contractor of the Weyland-Yutani's master developing facility. It used to belong to that guy."

"And he just let her _have_ it?!" Felger sputtered in disbelief.

"No, I'm not _supposed_ to have it!" Newt told him firmly. Hicks didn't feel the need to tell the other of the circumstances of the misplaced tool. "What's the big fuss?" he asked instead.

"They don't _exist_ anymore!" Felger said, still strangely worked up.

"So?" Hicks asked.

"It was an exclusive device used solely by Weyland-Yutani company's technicians! When they went under, the tool was recalled and every one of them destroyed! The license for those were never released to the public market!"

"So? _So?_" Hicks urged on, irritated that the man wouldn't get to the point.

"I'm saying that the master developing facilities of today have yearned for such a device ever since to duplicate!"

"How fun for them," Hicks said, trying to wave the matter away. "Now perhaps we could focus on the problem at hand?"

Felger wasn't prepared to let it go just yet. "But don't you get it? _Every_ hardware company in the galaxy wants that poly-driver and no one has ever been able to duplicate it. It's a _lost_ technology! The girl owns the _only_ one in existence!"

"It's not mine, I told you!" Newt said forcibly. "I'm only keeping it safe for my friend!"

The other wasn't hearing her. "If you would sign the patent for that under your name, the riches from the shares you could earn for selling it would be…"

"What?"

"Well, more than you can imagine! Kid, you could buy your own _moon_ with that thing!"

"What would I want with a moon?"

"It was just an example! You could have enough money to have _anything_ you want!"

Newt gave him a sour expression. "What I want most in the whole galaxy is something no money can _ever_ give me!" Feeling both angered and sad, she went back to unscrewing the cover to the apparatus with the tool that was the subject for the discussion. Hicks was amused to see the perplexed expression on Felger's face. The surviving twin had no experience whatsoever with a young child who possessed the wisdom of an adult.

"I'll be sure to tell Fixer about it though when I get the chance to return this thing to him," Newt then said in passing. That made Hicks grow very concerned again.

"Honey, you do know that Fixer is… well… that he won't…"

The child threw him a sharp look. "You don't need to tell _me_ that. I was _there_ when you killed him, remember?" Hicks walked away, blushing.

Ripley came up to the corporal. "I'm not quite following here… why is she insisting on returning that thing when she knows that the former owner is dead? What's gotten into her?" Hicks could see that she was just as concerned as he was.

"That's her guilt talking," he replied, sighing. "She feels it's her fault that Fixer perished because she happened to have that tool in her pocket when he needed it. It would not have made any difference, as he was cornered and would've died anyway even if he still would've had it on him..."

"But you killed him?"

"He was about to get torn to pieces by an alien – there was no way to save him. A bullet through the head was merciful compared to what he would've gotten… and deep down she knows it, so I don't understand why she's insisting on blaming herself."

Like Ripley, there was no other who understood what the argument had been about. The spectators stood looking bewildered by the weird subject that had just been discussed, looking back and forth between the corporal and the child, but they were smart enough to not get snoopy. Johner on the other hand had not given a damn, he only took a swig from his thermos containing his deadly home brew. That was why he was the only one who saw the unusual look on Zack Ryan's face. The slob stood staring at the spot where the child was working with her tool, his eyes almost bulging and the corner of his mouth twitching. But Johner didn't care much about that either, that's why he didn't say anything.


	27. Ripley's dual dilemma

Keevan Felger had managed to construct the battery with good time to spare thanks to Bishop's detailed instructions - it was now hanging from a strap over Ripley's shoulder. For such a small device, it was quite heavy as it was so compact, but the woman's inhuman strength enabled her to carry it without it being a particular burden.

Forster, one of the original crewmembers of the _Athena_, was the one driving the transport bus back towards the habitat complex. He was very nervous for doing so.

"If Jacob McHagen catches me, he'll toss me into his darkest cell and throw away the key before I'm being brought up to court-martial!"

"You _knew_ you'd be facing reprimands the minute you sprang Hicks from his cell and worked with him to fight the aliens," Ripley said from the seat behind him dispassionately, not acknowledging his worries. She too was troubled, but for a different personal reason than Forster. Despite the fact that she had managed to drive Raksha deeper into the bowels of her own mind after she had been reunited with Newt, she could feel the alien emotions of the other entity influencing her feelings again now that she was travelling away from the child: that was why she didn't feel any care for other people's fate right now.

Somehow Ripley had to get the girl to trust her again - it was only through the young that the woman had the power to fully overcome Raksha. When separated, the beast had the advantage and she was not slow to use it. It was dangerous for Ripley to venture out like this and put a distance between herself and the child, but she had no choice. Besides, she knew that Newt would need the space as well to give her the time to adapt. Ripley prayed that it would be enough to have her come around.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Forster almost shouted at her.

"What?"

"I asked: what are you planning to do when we get there? Commander McHagen doesn't take lightly to intruders. He'll have a squad waiting for us with weapons raised once we get inside!"

"Leave that to me, don't worry about it," Ripley told the other. "You just do your job and drop me off there, and then you'll head back. I've dealt with his welcoming committees before, and I doubt they'll be very eager to greet me again. Not after the last time…"

"They'll shoot you on the spot!"

"Perhaps…"

"Hey, it'll be your funeral!"

"Just drive, Forster!" Ripley said with an edge to her tone to mark the end of the conversation. The renegade soldier complied with a grimace. They passed the derelict ship which Ripley would visit later, and soon afterwards they approached the gate of the atmospheric lock to the command structure. The computers detected the approach of the vehicle and opened the gate to admit them. The bus rolled into the lock and went through the decontamination cycle where the vehicle was rinsed by the high-pressurized anti-radioactive liquid. Ripley was glad she was inside the bus this time, and not having to go through the showers personally like the last two times she entered the locks by herself.

Within the garage itself, Major Metzger and the rest of the soldiers who were not hospitalized scrambled to meet the unscheduled arrival of the transport vehicle. Since no radio contact had been made with the lost bus since it got trapped over at the other complex due to the blackout, they had no idea what to expect, hence the security measure. The decontamination cycle completed, and the bus rolled in to stop on the middle of the rotating platform. The soldiers stood ready. At first there was no movement – Major Metzger was just about to bark out an order to the riders to reveal themselves when the side door opened, and out stepped a woman they were all too well familiar with. Every soldier, including Metzger cringed in fear as they all remembered how the woman had hurt them all before. It was only the discipline through their military training that prevented them from opening fire at once.

Major Metzger stood with his mouth twitching, making his moustache bob up and down under his nose. Both the soldiers and the woman just stood looking at each other, each waiting for the first move.

Ripley's mouth suddenly broke out into a smile, and she raised her hand, palm to her face and fingers folded inwards, except for her index digit… with no worry at all evident on her face, she flexed it three times and invited the soldiers to come and get her.

The soldiers lost the last of the cool they had. They abandoned their positions and ran off, thinking only of getting away from the crazy woman before she did a massive hurt on them just like she had done to their comrades. Metzger stood hesitating for a few seconds before he too escaped, knowing that he would stand no chance at all alone against the female. His groin still ached from their last encounter and he had no wish to repeat the experience.

Inside the bus, Forster had no idea what had just happened, and he had a feeling that he would never learn the answer. As it was, the platform had finished turning the bus around and Forster was eager to get out and avoid any encounter with the people still running this base, even though he felt nowhere safe back at the research tower either. But for the sake of humanity the plan had to be carried out, so he prepared to head back there with the transport, trying not to think of the fate that was waiting for him in the future. The woman was on her own from here on, and he knew that it was the way she liked it.

From Ripley's point of view, the soldiers of the welcoming committee had made a wise decision choosing not to engage her – and lucky for them. With the entity of Raksha eager to get back out, Ripley was not sure if she could refrain from killing anyone of them by the other's influence. It was better if she could avoid any life- and death encounters with other people. But right now she was free to go straight to business. Last time she was here she was after Jacob McHagen… this time her errand was elsewhere. Ignoring the elevator outside of the garage, she turned to her left and headed straight for her target that was docked at the end of the complex: the humanitarian ship the _Athena_.

Ripley encountered no one else on her way through the row of 'terrace house' modules – she figured that either were they avoiding her, or McHagen's little army had been so decimated by the many casualties they had suffered that there were not many soldiers left to his disposal. Either way the lack of people only served in Ripley's favor. That changed however when she arrived at the humanitarian ship: there were medical staff on duty here. But they were healers, not fighters – she didn't believe they would cause that much trouble.

Passing though the recovery ward, she found the soldiers - every bed were occupied by those. She didn't need to stop to wonder what had happened to them: they were all there because of her. Ripley hardly spared them a single glance… but those who were awake spotted her in turn, and they all whimpered beneath their sheets remembering how the woman had manhandled them all with an unnatural ease. They were all relieved though that the intruder did not seem to be interested in them.

It was when Ripley got to the area where all medical equipment were stored when she was finally approached by a medical orderly.

"C-can I help you, miss?" the woman nurse asked nervously.

"No!" Ripley replied shortly and passed by her.

"W-what exactly is it y-you want?" the nurse stammered and followed along after her. Ripley gave no answer. By the descriptions Adrienne Kinloch had given her, she knew exactly where she was, and she knew where she would find the equipment she was after. She spotted the correct door for medical storage, opened it and headed straight through.

"Hey!" the female orderly protested. "You can't enter here!" Ripley wasn't listening. The booth to the far left was where the device was located. The orderly seemed to understand this too, and moved in from behind to stop her. "Hey! This is a _restricted_ area!" The orderly grabbed on to the woman's shoulder to mark the gravity of the intrusion. Ripley turned to her in just a blink of an eye, grabbed the other's hand off her shoulder and squeezed it tightly. The orderly gasped in pain and went down to her knees.

"Stay out of my way or there will be… trouble," Ripley informed her sternly. The orderly nodded in understanding, tears of agony beginning to fall from her eyes. It did seem to move something within the assaulting woman, because she let go. Luckily for the orderly, the bones in her hand weren't broken – Ripley had managed to restrain enough self-control for that. Turning around to not let the nurse see the shame of her behavior on her face, the woman strode directly to the booth where the dermal regenerator was stored. The door was locked, but that was not a problem for Ripley. She simply ripped it off its hinges and cast it away. Then she grabbed the device inside and prepared to walk out of there.

"That is an invaluable piece of medical equipment," the orderly squeaked out from her spot, massaging her hand. "Have you no _shame?_"

Ripley was momentarily taken aback, but she quickly recovered. "You'll have it back once we're done," she promised, and hoped she would be able to keep her word. "Just put some ice on it and it will be fine," she passed along as she left, indicating to the hand she had hurt.

_Damn you, Raksha!_

* * *

Ripley's breaking and entering into the _Athena_ had not gone unnoticed by Jacob McHagen. He stood in his command center together with the members of his staff and they were all watching it though the view-screens. A technician was there too for monitor duty, but he didn't participate in the discussion.

"I'm not exactly sure what it is she took," Colonel Benelli commented. "...but what could she possibly want with it?"

"It must be important if she came back here to get it," assistant Spencer stated unnecessarily.

"Important for who?" McHagen snarled. "It's likely a medical device used for surgeries, so it certainly can't be useful for fending off the specimens! The equipment is calibrated for _human_ needs!"

"Then _she_ doesn't need it! Her blending with alien DNA has given her an amazing regeneration capability!" Benelli said.

"No. It's for somebody else!" McHagen growled angrily.

"Who?"

"The same ones who is driving that bus back to the other complex!" the commander snarled again. "Don't you get it?! That means that there are _survivors_ from _our_ teams over there! But they are working _with_ her! They've turned _traitors_ and _deserters!_"

Colonel Benelli and some of his fellow staff members were not ready to believe that possibility. To have their own troopers turn against their superiors and their nation… it was almost unthinkable.

"B-but… who amongst our soldiers would even consider to join with the enemy…?" Admiral Henderson stammered.

McHagen snorted. "Well, it wasn't a soldier who led Ripley here! She went straight to that booth as if she _knew_ what she was looking for! And there's only one I sent over to the other complex who knew of the entire stock complement of the _Athena!_ Doctor Adrienne Kinloch still lives! And if she does, then others from the earlier expeditions I've sent have likely survived too!"

"Why haven't they tried to make contact with us?" Lieutenant Colonel Maziq blurted out. "Why would they turn against us?"

"Isn't it obvious?" General Berger-Hauser replied in a heated tone. "I _told_ you before: not every soldier would fall in on what we are doing here! Like I said: it is every soldier's sworn duty to disobey illegal orders and report any egregious misconducts to the superiors. What we do here _is_ illegal!"

"And I sincerely doubt they take lightly to the fact that we sent them over there to certain death when we wanted them to heard the beasts back into their cages," Benelli said with a weird glint of humor.

"Are you all gonna go 'Colonel Hayes' on me?!" McHagen spat back at his underlings. "Feeling second doubts? Got guilt plaguing you? Perhaps you're all ready to eat a bullet yourselves and take the coward's way out of this mess just like Hayes did?!"

"Hayes _was_ correct in his assessment!" the colonel returned. "This has gone too far!"

"Yes, it has gone quite far," McHagen admitted. "So far that it is _impossible_ to back out now! You got it as far up to your neck as the rest of us that the Pentagon would throw you into the darkest dungeon they got it they got the full wind of our operation! Are you ready to risk your family for that?!"

"No," the officer reluctantly said, thinking of his lovely grandchildren.

"So get your head into the game!" the commander growled. "How do we salvage the operation?"

"Well, shouldn't we start by doing something about Ripley, then!" his assistant Spencer pointed out. "We don't know what she's up to, but we can't let her get away with that medical equipment, can we?"

"And what would _you_ suggest we do about it?" Maziq challenged him.

"Set up an ambush on her way back to the garage," Spencer suggested. "Take her by surprise."

"The main flaw with that plan is that she won't head back to the garage," Colonel Benelli pointed out in return. "The transport bus left as soon as it had dropped her off, so she wasn't planning on catching it for the ride back."

"Then how was she planning to get back to the other complex if that is what her plan is?"

Commander McHagen figured it out immediately. "She's going to steal one of the _ambulances_ from the _Athena!_" He turned to the technician at the control board. "Override the external deployment tracks on the ship!" he ordered. "Kill all power to the tractors! She mustn't escape!"

The technician was quick to carry out the orders – however not quick enough. He turned to McHagen with a nervous and apologetic look on his face. "Sir, the override controls – they're not responding!"

"_What?!"_

"There seem to be some kind of interference…"

"Reboot the systems!"

"I _can't!_" the technician said after a few seconds, fearing the reprimand he was likely to get. "I don't know what's wrong!"

"Incompetent _fool!_" McHagen barked.

"I swear, Sir! I don't…" But McHagen wasn't listening anymore. "Get someone out there to disconnect the main circuit to the _Athena!_" he barked instead.

"Will do no good at all," Benelli said. "The ship's equipped with an internal back-up generator that'll kick in if there's a black-out occurring to keep it running. Patient security and all. The humanitarian ship was therefore the only part of the base remaining somewhat operational after that storm hit us. The Japanese sure build them good…"

"It's too late anyway," Admiral Henderson stated. "The instruments indicates that one of the tractors are in this very moment deploying… she has already left the ship!"

The staff members had to endure listening to their angered commander spitting out one curse after another for the next few minutes…

* * *

It didn't take Ripley long before she had familiarized herself with the controls for running the tractor. It was pretty standard, so she didn't expect any trouble driving the all-terrain vehicle. And now as she was off the complex and had a moment to herself, she felt secure enough to initiate a private discussion she wanted to have with another. She brought out a little curvature device from her pocket which she put around her ear. It was a small, but compact communications equipment: an earphone and a small microphone. It even had a miniature live-feed camera mounted on top of the thin support-frame. Activating the device, she made contact with the one she wanted to have a chat with.

"Bishop? Do you read?"

" – It is not a clear transmission due to the interference of the radiation, but I can hear you just fine, Ripley," the disembodied android's calm and pleasant voice came back. "- What's happening at your end?"

"I've got that regenerator thingy, commandeered one of the tractors and am now on my way to the wreck of the _Betty_."

"- You almost didn't make it out," Bishop revealed. "- The brass was monitoring you and they were about to lock down the systems to keep you confined. Fortunately I managed to access the systems and run some interference - it gave you enough time for your getaway."

"Did you do that for my benefit… or for theirs?" Ripley knew that it would result being quite messy for the personnel if she would've had to fight her way out. But had Bishop suspected that too?

"- I don't quite follow what you mean?" the android replied.

"Never mind that for now… what of Hicks and his team?"

"- We're maintaining radio-silence for security reason, so I have no dialogue with him – but he and three of his commandos have reached the laboratories where the ore samples collected from the derelict should be stored. I'm following what I can via the security cameras. No hostiles present so far. We believe that the creatures are still licking their wounds from the last attack."

Ripley's tone turned more serious. "And… what about Newt? How is she holding up?"

"- She's distracted right now. Good thing too, or she would probably be worried sick."

"What's she doing?"

"- Playing with the cat. She found a piece of string which she's holding just above the reach of the animal's paws and allow it to swat wildly after it. I'm not sure if she's the one entertaining the cat or if it's the other way around. It's good therapy for her though. There isn't much in the galaxy that can make her laugh these days."

Ripley was pleased to hear that, but at the same time she cursed the fact that she wasn't there to see it. She would've loved to see the child smiling.

"Hicks said that you had a good look into her personality profile…" Ripley implied.

"- That's right."

A lump was forming in her throat. "You do know that… she doesn't really trust me right now?"

"- I did find it odd that she kept her distance from you. What's going on with you two? I seem to have missed some key-incidents during the time I was rendered off-line after the black-out."

"How much do you know about me? Not as you used to know me, but of the one I am now?"

"- Next to nothing," Bishop informed her. "- I know how Hicks and Newt came to be in this era, but your survival from Fiorina 161 is a complete mystery to me."

"I didn't survive." Ripley spent the next 40 minutes telling the other her story while she steered the 'ambulance' over the rough terrain. She left nothing out, she even included details that she never had shared with her pirate crew.

"That's my story," Ripley finally finished with a resigned tone, having told the disembodied android her recent background through the radio attached to the side of her face. "I'm quite fucked up."

"- Fascinating," Bishop replied in her ear.

"I'm glad you think so." Ripley had to impose quite some self-control to not spit the last sentence out. "I doubt you would have felt that way in my place. You have no idea what it's like to have a multiple personality in your head, especially one as vile as Raksha. Too late I realized the danger she posed before she became too powerful and began to influence everything I do. She's a real _nemesis_ to me!"

"- But you are fighting her?"

This time she did spit it out. "_Of course_ I do! But I fear that it is a losing battle. It's hard for me to admit, but I don't think I can do it alone. Call, my latest synthetic friend was the one who helped to keep me in check although she paid a heavy price for it. But now she's gone, and Raksha is lurking in the back of my mind, just waiting for the opportunity when I lose my guard to break out."

"- Can you think of anybody who might be able to help you?"

Ripley sighed, feeling a weight falling heavily on her shoulders. "As it looks like, there is only one living person in the whole galaxy who has the power to keep me in control, and without even having to fear any reprimands from my periods of agitated states like Call did – but…" Ripley swallowed. "…right now she wants nothing to do with me."

"- Newt."

"Now perhaps you fully understand my predicament? How do I do it, Bishop? How can I gain her trust back?"

"- Isn't that a bit immoral, Ripley? Asking me to reveal to you Newt's private thoughts without her consent? Not only is it unethical, but it also is a bit of cheating, don't you think…?"

"I'm _desperate_, Bishop!" the woman interrupted. "I _need_ her! And it's not only because of Raksha… I understand that you had a look into my personality profile as well – then you should know how much I _love_ her! To me she _is_ my child. I lost it completely after she died when we crashed on Fiorina… and I can't _bear_ the thought of losing her again! No mother can handle that!"

Bishop was quiet for a few seconds before he answered. "- I'm afraid that might be a difficult task. Newt's greatest fear in the galaxy is without question the xenomorphs… she want's nothing else but to be free of them. Like all children, she only desires the safety and comfort of a home and a family. Newt really wants to be part of a family again so that she won't be alone, and be surrounded by people she loves and trust. She did trust you imperturbably, Ripley…"

"But now she don't," Ripley asserted sadly.

"- Quite understandable, isn't it?" Bishop stated. "- It's very controverting for her. How can she ever be free of the aliens with them being a permanent addition to you? And then there's also the matter of the autopsy…"

The woman choked back a sob.

"- You have to understand, Ripley… she feels betrayed. She was under the impression that you loved her as much as she loved you…"

"I do! I told her that!"

"- Yet your actions caused her pain, so how can she believe what you tell her now? No, Ripley: words alone won't get her back. It was your actions that put this wedge between you, and only an action great enough to counter the incident with the autopsy will make her return."

Ripley felt devastated. "What will it take?"

"- That is an answer I cannot give. Trust is a hard thing to win back. All I know is that it has to be an act of genuine nature. You know how well she can see through lies."

"And a lie would only drive the wedge even further in."

There wasn't more to be said in the matter from this moment, because outside of the windshield, Ripley spotted the remains of the _Betty_. She drew up beside the wreckage and stopped just outside the tearing in the hull through which she had escaped earlier after it crashed. Ripley didn't allow herself to feel any nostalgia for the _Betty_… it had been so old and battered that it was amazing that it had held together for as long as it had. In truth: it should have been decommissioned ages ago. Ripley had never really felt at home in it, so she wouldn't miss the ship that much.

Although her physiology could withstand the radiation, she decided to clad herself in the hazard suit that was stored in the tractor before she went out. Since she wouldn't pass through the decontamination locks of the complexes personally like she had done twice before, (and was not eager to do again,) it was best to not risk having any poisonous particles get stuck on her hide. Dr. Kinloch was right: she shouldn't have dismissed that risk like she had done before and thus putting the people around her in danger.

When ready, Ripley exited the tractor and went over to the wreckage by foot. The winds of Acheron were starting to build up in strength again, but that didn't bother her – she was quickly out of it anyway as she entered the crashed ship. Making her way through the debris, she quickly found the smashed cockpit where the remains of her late comrade still lay. Ripley had left the communications device in place fastened over her ear inside the hood of the hazard suit, and the camera equipment could see through the transparent faceplate. She still had Bishop on the line.

"- That's your artificial friend?" the disembodied android spoke into her ear.

"Call," Ripley confirmed with a slight unsteady voice. Before when she was too influenced by Raksha, Call's death hadn't affected her, but now as a greater portion of her humanity had been brought forward after having found Newt and Hicks alive, she felt the emptiness left behind from the Auton's demise. Call had been the only real friend she'd had in this era.

Ripley pushed it aside – this was not the time for remorse. Bringing forth a bottle-like container she had brought with her from the tractor, she knelt under the broken android and began to probe the damaged torso. She found a 'vein' that looked relatively intact which she punctured and allowed the white android fluid to leak out - she held the flask under the stream and let it pour into the container, filling it up. She didn't get much as most of Call's internal fluid had already leaked out onto the deck, but Ripley believed that she had got enough for their purpose.

"- It should cover our needs," Bishop said in agreement. The woman was prepared to go back to the tractor when the other spoke again: "- Ripley, is the flight recorder of the ship located here somewhere?"

Ripley was perplexed by the question. "Why?"

"- One thing I've learned while I was a mere 'ghost in the machine' before I retained my full self-awareness was that you can never learn too much. Knowledge is power. And since this ship has been around in the galaxy for hundreds of years, who knows what information could be stored in the memory banks? Better to take it now while we're here than going back for it later."

"What do you expect to find?" Ripley asked.

"- You never know," Bishop said cryptically. "- Maybe some communication logs between the pirates and the army from when the deal was brokered to hire them. There might be some incriminating evidence in there which we can use against them should we ever want to bring them to court."

"Evidence that Jacob McHagen hired the former captain Frank Elgyn to hijack a bunch of sleeper pods with civilians to use in their little science project aboard the _Auriga_?" Ripley didn't really believe that such detailed information would be found there, but neither could she dispute with the logic of the possibility. So, what the heck? Even if Ripley could find no real use of it for herself, perhaps it could be for the benefit of Adrienne Kinloch to repay for the deeds her father had committed. Even though Ripley had no participation and therefore no guilt in the death of Purvis and his fellow commuters, it would be a bit of compensation to them of sorts. Maybe it would put an ease to her own conscience as well and allow her to retain even more of her former humanity.


	28. The first

Hicks let out a breath of relief as the thick security door closed behind him and his retrieval team. He and his men had just gotten back from their mission to get the ore-samples of the derelict's alloy from the laboratories, and while it had been a close call, they had managed to avoid any encounter with the scuttling aliens. But now they were back, secured in their safehouse. Hicks walked in to find their appointed technician.

"Here you go, Felger." Hicks put forward a large but carriable box that was made to storage and transport many kinds of samples within a protective environment, bio- and hard-substance matter alike. "There's plenty of samples to work from in here, and we got some tools as well to help you shape the pieces into the form we require."

Keevan Felger looked at the samples through the transparent lid. "I can do the work, but they won't look pretty…"

"They don't need to, as long as they do the job."

In the next moment Hicks was almost knocked off his feet by another body slamming into his. But it wasn't an attack…

"Hey there, kiddo," he said cheerfully as he folded his arms around the child who in turn had her arms around his waist. "Were you worried?"

"Did you think I wouldn't be?" Newt replied with a mock sternness. Hicks tousled her hair affectionately.

"Don't go out there again," she then begged him.

"If everything goes to plan, next time we need to we will have one major advantage," he told her. "Have you heard anything from Ripley?"

"…No," she replied hesitantly, and Hicks realized he had made a mistake asking her that. She still felt the hurt of the woman's actions. Knowing that he would get the required answers from another source, he walked up to a certain computer terminal after leaving Newt with Dr. Kinloch.

"Bishop. Any news on Ripley's progress?"

The floating digital head on the computer screen seemed to have been momentarily distracted. "- Ah, there's been no serious alien activity around the safe house since you set off the incinerators, Dwayne."

Hicks gave him a perplexed look. "That's not what I asked!"

"- Sorry," the disembodied android said apologetically. "- Ever since I regained my full awareness, I've been working to collate and sort out everything that I can that's going on around us. I have successfully accessed many restricted systems and I'm busy working out some mathematics all while I'm keeping watch on the progress of our plan. Even for an artificial being, multitasking can be a little overwhelming."

"Well, where's Ripley and Forster?"

"- Ripley is just collecting a last piece of equipment from her wrecked ship before she's heading out to the derelict for the last items. As for Forster I am not sure – the bus is back in the garage."

"Can't you see him though the cameras?"

"- I'm afraid many of the cameras throughout the complex have gone out of order because of either burned out or by severed lines. The only reason I know that the bus is back is because the main computer registered the decontamination lock going through its cycle." The image of Bishop's head twitched a little. "- There goes another camera."

"Where? How come?"

Bishop gave him a serious look. "- I didn't want to add this to the problems you already have, but several cameras have gone blind all over the complex for the last hour. The top of the tower is completely dark to me."

"What's going on? Is it an overload?"

"- No. It's their doing."

"The _aliens?!_"

"- They have a rudimentary intelligence - they can never be an advanced kind of civilization, but they can understand the significance of human technology. They know we depend on the cameras to see what goes on outside of our perimeters. They're taking it away, so you won't see them coming before their next attack."

Hicks felt a cold shiver creep down his spine. "Are you saying they're _regrouping a_nd _mobilizing?!_"

"- They've changed tactics at least," Bishop said, sounding disturbingly fascinated. "- They know we have ways of seeing them coming, so it's quite clear they're planning some sort of sneak attack. They're nothing but persistent. But if they're planning to take out _all_ of the cameras before they do, it will be a while before they're ready to move in on us."

"No matter what, it's down to a race against time!" Hicks groaned. "How long do you think we have?"

"- At this rate, it will take them approximately three hours to kill all the cameras – after that: I have no way of knowing. We will have to depend on your ability to sense the presence of them. But I think you have to know that it might be that they _know_ you can detect their presence, that's why they started on top and moving down, so you won't know what they're up to."

Hicks had to fight hard to keep his despair down. "Their queen comes from me… _she_ knows of my 'empathic' ability. Naturally she told her kids."

"- Quite a logical conclusion."

"Share this with no one else, Bishop. I don't want to cause any panic at this time."

"- What are you planning?"

"At the moment we can do _nothing_ until Ripley returns with the battery and the other equipment. The fort is still somewhat impenetrable, that might buy us a little more time. We'll have to make do until then and hope for the best. In the meantime I have to keep all personnel busy so that they won't suspect anything and lose their cool. You'll call me if there's any other change!"

"- Will do, Corporal."

Trying not to let the grave news of an impending attack bother him, Hicks walked over to the makeshift hospital ward where Dr. Kinloch was stationed, and where he had left Newt. The biologist looked up from a computer terminal as Hicks entered.

"What's up?" she asked.

"I'm setting up a new rotational guard detail," Hicks told her. "From where we stand right now, we got a lot of dead time to make until Ripley gets back here with the equipment we need. After that we're all going to need to be on our toes, so I would like everybody whose currently considered to be non-essential personnel to grab some eye-shut."

"Sounds reasonable," Adrienne said.

"I'm glad you think so, as you are currently non-essential until Ripley returns. You need the rest, Doc."

"Is that an order?" she asked, crossing her arms and giving him a petulant look.

"I'd rather you consider it as a necessity, since you are our acting MedTech. I need you rested before the big operation. You're the only one who knows how to work that dermal regenerator."

Hicks could see that the doctor gave in, although she wasn't too happy about it. Out in the corner of his eye, he spotted Newt as she attempted to hide a big yawn, but to no avail.

"The same goes for you, young lady," he said, turning to the child. "How long ago was it you slept?"

"I don't want to sleep."

The protest was expected. Hicks was well aware of her reluctance to sleep as she was plagued by nightmares of the aliens. He didn't take enjoyment in going against her wishes, but he had the role of being her adult guide; something that he'd been ever since they were resuscitated aboard the _Hercules_ two centuries ago. To show her that the decision was not open for debate, he picked her up into his strong arms and began to carry her away. "Everybody needs to sleep at some point, honey," he told her gently. "You're no exception. And I can tell that you are exhausted."

Newt was exhausted, that's why her further weak attempts of protest was only half-hearted. By the time Hicks had brought her to a selected cot inside a room, she had completely given up the argument.

"You'll be safe in here," he said as he put her down into the bed. "This is my room. It's a commander's prerogative to have his personal space away from his troopers. No one will come in here without my authority."

He waited until she had scooted down into position before he put the blanket over the small body and tucked her in. A sudden movement on his side almost made him reach for his sidearm before he identified the new form to be Jones the cat. The big tom had followed them inside and now he jumped up to the bed to lie down beside the child. The girl didn't have any objections to the cat's presence as she reached down to scratch him over the head, so Hicks didn't find it to be problematic. Maybe she'd even feel a little safer if she had the company.

"Get some sleep now, sweetie," he said, rubbing her arm a little. "I'll come and check in on you later."

"Hicks." The tone in her voice revealed to him that she had something important in her mind. "I don't want you go!"

Hicks smiled. "Don't worry. I'll be right outside…"

"I don't mean that. I meant I don't want you to attempt your plan!"

Now the man was confused. "You don't? But it's our one shot to destroy the aliens. Don't you want that?"

"You won't be able to fool them!" the girl said. "Even if you do turn invisible to their eyes, they _will_ know you're there! And then they'll kill you!" She told him this as if she already had seen the outcome.

"I assure you that my team and I will exercise extreme caution… we won't walk in there as if we owned the place – we'll still be sneaky."

"It won't help!" the child said not the least assured of his promise. "If you go in there – you'll _die!_ And I won't see you again!"

"There are always risks in my line of work," he told her. "But there's no other way. You understand that, don't you?"

She did. She just didn't want to admit it. "What am I gonna do about Ripley?" she asked instead

"What do you mean?" he asked surprised of the sudden change of subject.

"I want her back! I mean… I want the _old_ Ripley back. I want the one who came for me when the monsters got me. S-sometimes I think I can see her, but… most of the time it's the _other_ one who's there! The one who hurt me… How can I be with Ripley if _she's_ there?"

Remarkable. It appeared to Hicks that the child had with her youthful sight of things come to the conclusion that it must've been Ripley's dark-side entity of Raksha that had been the main drive behind the autopsy performed on her back at the prison planet where they crashed. It wasn't entirely true though: while there was no way he would ever condone to the actions Ripley had done, he understood what had caused the woman to do so. She had gone deranged by grief for losing the child after the crash on Fiorina 161, and the woman had wanted to make sure that no alien would violate the girl further. But that was before Ripley had been physically blended with the xenomorph larva infesting her during the cloning process that had resurrected her, joining their minds.

Newt was a child with an intelligence that was way passed her physical years, so Hicks didn't doubt that deep down, she knew this too. But she allowed this fact to be cast aside in favor for her emotions, which contrary to her youthful logic still were in level with her actual age. It was her feelings that wanted this explanation in order to cope with Ripley's betrayal. That would probably change in the future as she grew older, but for now, Hicks believed it to be better if Newt was allowed to live with this variant of the 'truth' – it would make it so much easier for her.

And who knows: maybe the queen larva _had_ manipulated the woman somewhat? The queen was more intelligent than the average drone. Hicks should know as he himself once had been infested with a queen, and the little bastard had managed to outmaneuver him despite the fact that she was unborn when he attempted to blow himself up to kill her.

"I can't imagine what goes through Ripley's mind, right now," the man told the girl. "But I am certain of one thing: she has no wish to harm you."

"She don't, but what of the _other?_"

_Damn this child's logic._ With her perspective of things being on the level with an adult's, how do you win an argument with this kid?

"I can only repeat what I said: I can't imagine what goes through her mind. If I would have to take a guess, I'd say that she's in the middle of a conflict within herself: two dominating forces that struggles to take control. That's why she looks like a stranger to us, because the 'other' has her ugly face shown side by side with Ripley's."

"I'm scared that the 'other' will win," Newt said.

_You and me both, honey,_ Hicks thought silently to himself. He had seen what Raksha was able to. While the humans sought to destroy the beasts, Raksha was on the intent to save them. And a mother's instinct to save her offspring was a very powerful force.

"I'm so _tired_ of this!" the child then burst out, and Hicks could see that she was close to crying. "I'm so tired of having those monsters around me! I wish they'd never come into my life! I want my mom! I want my family, my home! I want to be _free_ of the monsters!" She turned around to her other side in the bed, facing away from Hicks. "I wish that I hadn't been woken up. It would've been better if I'd been _left_ in that icebox, so that I wouldn't have to feel like this!"

The child was in a despair mood right now – and Hicks was at loss what he could do about it. He didn't really want to walk out on her like this, but he felt he needed to as he recognized the signs the girl showed - and it had him greatly concerned. She was on the verge of another psychological breakdown! It had happened two times before back aboard the _Hercules_ – and the first time she had an attack of this kind, it had come awfully close of killing her. Hicks didn't dare to say much else right now as he was afraid to say the wrong thing, this required a more professional opinion. He would need to speak to Bishop. As the android had a good look into Newt's psychological profile, he might know how to best counter this crisis.

Hicks pulled up the blanket under the child's chin and stroked the blond mass of hair a last time. "I'll come and check on you later," he promised. Newt didn't answer, but at least she didn't recoil away from his touch either. Jones the cat seemed to disapprove though as he was glaring at the male human, looking like he was telling Hicks that he would not allow any harm to be done to his human - but he stayed put on the bed and did not do anything, knowing that Newt accepted the other's presence close to her person. Hicks backed out of the room and closed the door to ensure her the privacy. After that, he went straight back to the computer screen where Bishop's head was displayed and spoke to him about the new trouble with Newt, asking him for advice. Bishop was not so forthcoming though.

"- Really Hicks… between you and Ripley, it's a wonder that the child is allowed to have any private thoughts at all. I can't just spread out information about her innermost spirit to anybody who asks without her consent. It's immoral!"

"What? You shared it with me before, didn't you?"

"- I was under the influence of Michael Weyland's obedience directive which overrode my behavior inhibitor back then. I wasn't in full control of my actions."

"It's for her safety!" Hicks persisted. "It's my responsibility to protect her since she is looking to me like I'm her father!"

"- But you are no more her father than Ripley is her mother. That's a pact that has not yet been sealed. Until then I need to keep Newt's personality profile under the decree of confidentiality. I can only give recommendations based on what I know and what you already know about her, but I won't reveal any of her other thoughts."

"Well, _recommend!_" Hicks demanded, with quite a clear hint of annoyance in his tone.

"- What you need to do is what you're already doing; stick to the plan you've got and give her the space she requires to follow along in her own way. She's expressing difficulties right now and has certain issues, but fortunately it is still on the level where she can handle it. Like all children, she is putting her confidence in the adults around her. As long as you don't do anything that will break that confidence, she won't run off like she did on the _Hercules_."

"You're certain?"

"- Well, I can't be entirely certain," Bishop confessed. "- My knowledge only extends up to the point to the amount of data I assimilated from the hard drive of her cryotube from the _Sulaco_, and from our experiences of the time we had with the 'Rawhides'. If there were any certain incidents after she was thawed up that might have changed her view of perspective and that may have given her other ideas which she might act upon, I have no information of."

Hicks let out a sigh. "Sometimes I feel we have to walk on tip-toes around her."

"- Well, she is scared – naturally she is uncomfortable with the knowledge of having aliens close by your doorstep. She's good with hiding it, but she is traumatized. She should have gotten professional crisis-help for the horrors she experienced right after we fled the destruction of her colony, but certain incidents prevented us to get that far. So yes: you do need to tread your steps carefully around her."

"Just stick to the plan, then?"

"- Yes. She's smart. She knows what's at stake."

Hicks turned away from the screen, contemplating on the advice he'd gotten. He was about to walk away when he thought of something, and turned back to the image of the android head.

"What was all that talk about confidentiality, and not wanting to reveal her private thoughts? In a way you just did!"

The image of Bishop looked uncomfortable.

"Are you sure that your programing is still not affected by some compromising directives?"

"- It may be that my program might have degraded a bit from such a long period of inactivity," Bishop said reluctantly. " And the flight recorder on which my matrix is stored did receive damage after the _Hercules_ was destroyed. I may not be completely restored after all."

Hicks almost laughed. "You've gone _computer senile!_"

"- That's not a very nice way of putting it, Corporal."

"It had better not leave any inaccurate descriptions of the cloaking wristbands you've set us up to build that'll make them inoperable!"

"- No," Bishop calmed him. "- That data comes from the disc. It hasn't been degraded by time like I have."

"Good. Then it's all up to Ripley to return with the stuff we need. I only hope that she doesn't get stuck with some of her personal problems as well while out there or everything will go down the drain."

* * *

About an hour later Ripley parked the all-terrain tractor outside the inert alien derelict. She was feeling apprehension as she gazed up on its exterior appearance through the windshield. It was her second visit here, but it was the first time she would enter it on her own accord. Raksha had been controlling her actions the last time while her own consciousness had been expelled to the deeper regions of her own brain. It had been an extremely stupid move to allow the dark entity to seize control of her body earlier as it had almost cost the woman her own sanity.

But now she was going to enter the derelict as herself, thinking she had come to a full circle as she was about to take in the environment that her shipmates of the _Nostromo_ had faced when they'd ventured in here 260 years ago, and she was about to walk in their footsteps. Still, now that she was standing there at the doorstep to the root of the horror that had dominated the last years of her life, she wasn't sure she could handle to go in there. Ripley took a moment to call up an image of Newt in her mind, thinking that it was for _her_ that she needed to do this. It helped. She sealed the hazmat suit she was still wearing, hanged the heavy battery over her shoulder and exited the tractor to walk over to the ship that had affected her life so dramatically.

It was a disturbing feeling to walk around inside the ship: not for the deadly threat it represented, but because she couldn't take it in as a new experience to explore unknown grounds because of Raksha's actions. It was more like a feeling a déjà vu than anything else. But at the same time there was something nagging her in the back of her mind – something that had happened the first time… but she couldn't remember what it was. She almost jumped when a voice crackled in her ear.

"- You can take off your hood if you like," Bishop said. Ripley had forgotten she still had that communicator device with a camera attached to the side of her head. "- The hull of the derelict is shielding the insides from the radiation outside. It's clean in there."

Ripley was happy to do so as she felt that she had no real need of the protection suit – she was after all immune to the hazardous environment outside. She encountered no kind of resistance the further inside she went, and neither did she detect any alien presence – the derelict was as deserted as it always had been.

After a while she had reached the bridge. Her goal was the control pit at the side of the platform, so she headed there without looking around. Since she already had been there before, although she had only been semi-present back then as a prisoner in her own mind, neither the architecture nor the dead space jockey held any particular curiosity for her. Bishop however caught something in the peripheral view of the camera on the woman's head.

"- Hold, Ripley," Bishop called in her ear. "- Pan to your left, please! Let me have a look at the pilot!"

The woman complied.

"- What's this?" The android's voice was filled with bewilderment. "- What happened to the head?"

"The helmet has been removed," Ripley said nonchalantly. "It's over there." She panned the camera to the spot on the deck where Raksha had disposed of the exoskeletal headgear removed from the space jockey.

"- That was a helmet?!" Bishop sounded amazed. "- They're humanoid?!"

"Apparently," Ripley said, disturbed by the fact that she wasn't as curious about it as Bishop was. Another downside influence from Raksha she figured. "There's something in the back of my head that tells me that _they_ are the initial creators of the Xenomorphs. That makes them the bad guys in my book."

"- I'll have to add this revelation of their physiology to the disc should I ever get the opportunity to revise it," Bishop said with excitement.

"Fine… you do that," Ripley mumbled, dismissing the whole matter and getting back to business. She jumped down from the circular platform down into the control-pit and probed with her hand over the panel. She found an adequate button that was made of the soft silicone-like membrane which she pinched between her fingers and began to pull. She had to resort to her alien-enhanced strength before she managed to rip off the membrane with a squelching sound and the soft shell came to rest in her palm. A foul-smelling fluid from within was released and poured down over the panel. Ripley had no wish to know what the basic composition of that liquid was.

"Got the sample for the doctor's machine," Ripley said for Bishop to hear. "Where am I to get the energy to the battery?"

"- We need its purest form," Bishop informed her. "- Head down to the cargo-hold next level down underneath your feet. There's a conduit there we can make use of."

Ripley didn't take the chute that went from the platform and down. Following Bishop's guidance, Ripley took the long route from the bridge venturing into the bowels of the derelict. She really didn't need the android's instructions as this was the path Raksha had taken down the first time she was here, so Ripley was already familiar with it. But there was something about that memory that disturbed her… why had Raksha gone down there? What had she been doing here? The purpose eluded her – or it was perhaps concealed. She could feel the entity that was her darker side stir in the back of her mind, as if something made the demon more alert. Whatever it was that made Raksha become more attentional, Ripley didn't like it.

Neither did the woman like the sight that greeted her in the cargo-hold. It was just like her late shipmate Kane had said all those years ago - there were thousands of eggs here. Fortunately they were all dead, being nothing but dry, shrunken husks that had collapsed within themselves. Still she felt apprehension of walking around them. She stretched out with her mind, listening in case one of those damn things was against all odds still alive. Better to be safe than sorry. She detected nothing in her close vicinity though.

Bishop made her go on deeper into the hold, something she was not so happy about – but soon they reached the place the android wanted. This section of the hold where the eggs were stored was slightly different: not in design, but because each egg here had a weird mechanical spindly device placed on top of the crest. "What's all this?" she asked into the radio.

"- That's the egg-claws - the devices that were brought here with the _Hercules _two-hundred years ago," Bishop explained. "- Quite innovating as they were successful in sealing the parasites inside, making them safe to haul out of here."

"How'd they manage to put those on without anybody being attacked?"

"- I was the one putting the claws on. I had a different body back then that was not susceptible to the facehuggers' senses. You know, I've always been curious about if the parasite can discern the difference between a human being and an artificial person before attempting to attach itself to a potential host. It does seem likely since the eggs never really reacted to my presence, but that body was totally mechanical. My old synthetic body was supposed to mimic a biological entity as much as possible, so you might wonder if…"

"Why were you helping them?" Ripley interrupted.

"- Did Hicks never tell you about the obedience directive that was uploaded into my program by orders of the Weyland-Yutani Company when I was rebuilt? I was obliged to do what I was told even though I spoke against the idea to collect specimens of the aliens. But with Corporal Hicks and Newt being held hostages by the 'Rawhides', I did not have much of a choice but to go along with the plan. I figured it was the best chance I had to save their lives."

"That directive… is it still active?"

"- Hicks asked me the same question just an hour ago back here at my end of the line." Bishop sounded troubled. "- To tell you the truth, I think I've gone a bit peculiar. I'm not sure if my thought-processor is up to its prime after being inactive for so long. It's too early to tell if it has something to do with a remnant from that directive."

Ripley only gave a mental shrug. "Well, tell me in advance if you're going to go nutty on me, will ya? Let's just go back to business… what am I supposed to do here?"

"- The mound with the energy outlet is located in the middle of the floor," Bishop informed her.

"That thing?" She had spotted an uprising in the floor that matched the description. "Doesn't look anything special."

"- That is the ship's main security device for the hold. It used to have a top which was the main sprinkler for the energy, creating the barrier that was shielding the eggs and maintained them."

"Maintained?"

"- There was a nutrient-rich mist underneath the barrier that gave the eggs the environment they needed to remain healthy. The mist have dispersed after I shut the barrier off. As you obviously already have noticed, all the eggs I've put a claw on are dead. They've starved to death."

"Way to go, Bishop."

"- I assure you: that outcome was never my intention."

"I wasn't criticizing you." She knelt before the mound. "Okay, so this is an energy outlet… how do I activate it?"

"- First: open the accumulator circuit on the battery and connect it to the generator within the mound." Ripley unslung the heavy battery pack hanging from her shoulder and she followed the android's instructions. It was funny how it seemed to fit perfectly inside. Had Bishop planned this in advance?

"- Now if you look inside, there should be four levers in there." Ripley grunted in confirmation. "- They're the power regulators. If you pull the sticks upwards, you will open the circuit." Ripley reached in with her hands and pinched all the levers between her fingers. "- But be careful!" Bishop suddenly cautioned. "- The energy released will rush up like a…"

A thick bolt of lightning suddenly shot up from the mound which threw Ripley backwards with a scream. She didn't cry out in pain – it was more an exclamation of surprise and anger.

"- …like a fountain!" Bishop finished his sentence in her ear, sounding a bit embarrassed.

"Well, thanks for the warning!" Ripley snarled as she got back to her feet while squinting her eyes to cover them of the flowing blinding light.

"- If you can push the sticks back down to the bottom again, you will deactivate the generator. We should not risk overloading the battery."

Ripley forced her hand into the cascade of power while she kept her face away from the bright light. She found the levers and pushed them down, killing the power. But she herself was absolutely livid.

"_Are you out of your mind, Bishop?!_" she asked furiously into the mouthpiece as she shook her hand that had gone quite numb after having been electrocuted. "Had I been a normal human, I would have been _killed! _How does that correspond with that subroutine of yours that you told me about the first time we met that you could never harm a human being?!"

"- You're referring to the implanted behavioral inhibitor. I'm sorry, that was destroyed along with what remained of my original body when the _Hercules_ crashed."

"Then you _have_ gone nuts!" the woman growled. "Heed my warning, Bishop: if you go Ash on me, I'll erase your program!"

Bishop wisely choose to not argue on the subject. Instead he went back to the matter Ripley was there for. "- That should've been enough to charge the battery. Can you retrieve it?"

"If I can flex my fingers around it," the woman muttered. She reached into the mound and pressed her palms against the sides of the battery pack. She had to yank it out as the immense power had slightly fused the connectors together. By doing so, she inadvertently activated something within the derelict's core from the feedback of the sudden power-cut, because the cargo hold suddenly sprang to life again. Not from the mound, but from hidden projectors. The blue-shimmering field was back hovering above the eggs.

"What's this?" Ripley asked confused.

"- That doesn't appear to be a real-time field," Bishop said. "- It shouldn't even be as the energy sprinkler is out of order. I believe we've inadvertently activated one of the ship's holographic logs. A malfunction caused by the damage we've done to the derelict."

"I think I remember Raksha messing around with those logs," Ripley said. There was a significant detail related to that which she felt necessary to know about… but that memory still eluded her. Trying hard to recall it, she only became dimly aware of the chatter her ears picked up.

"What did you just say?" she asked into the mouthpiece.

"- Me? I didn't say anything right now."

Ripley could swear she was hearing a low-tone distorted voice. She noticed a commotion over at the wall. Another holographic image was moving over there, coming down from a hole in the ceiling.

"A cave!" the distorted voice said excitedly. "A cave of some sort! But I… I don't know, but it's like the goddamn tropics in here."

For Ripley it suddenly felt more like the arctic – she recognized the figure to be an astronaut, and the design of the suit was well familiar to her. She knew she was looking at the image of a man she hadn't seen for 260 years.

Kane.

The image of her former crewmate came to rest his feet on the 'bridge' above the blue field, looking around. "The pit is completely enclosed. And it's full of leathery objects, like eggs or something."

Ripley's throat felt thick as she watched, unable to avert her eyes. This was but a replay, Kane not really being here now. The image was of a low quality, not so sharp. But yet she felt the incredible urge to call out, telling him to get out of there.

The holographic image of Kane walked over the 'bridge', coming close to her position. There he knelt down, and moved his hand through the blue-shimmering field.

"There's a layer of mist covering the eggs that reacts when broken." The astronaut then fell of the bridge, coming down to ground-level beneath the field. There was an inarticulate garble in the background that apparently had come from his radio. Ripley couldn't make out what it was saying, but she knew that on the bridge-level above her, Captain Dallas and Lambert were standing by.

"Yeah. I'm okay. All right." Kane said in reply to the garble. "I'm okay, I just slipped."

_That was one fateful misstep!_ Ripley thought to herself. She wished the replay would just end. She did not want to see the rest. But the holographic log went on, and she could not stop watching. Kane now walked around the eggs, examining them. He approached one at random. In real-time, the empty egg was dry and shrunken – but in the log the blue-shimmering image of a healthy ovoid shape overlay the physical remains.

"It appears to be completely sealed," Kane mumbled, reaching up with his hand towards the apex to touch it. There was a brief hiss heard, and he retracted his arm. But he did not step away. Instead he leaned down.

"Wait a minute, there's movement."

_Kane, damn you! Didn't you know that it was __curiosity that killed the cat__?_

"It seems to have a life," Kane whispered. "Organic life."

Ripley felt sick to her stomach as the image of the egg opened up at the top, four flaps separating like a flower. And Kane stupidly leaned in over to have a look inside. She closed her eyes and shivered as the egg seemed to explode, and the parasite within sprawled itself over his helmet. There was commotion following where the facehugger melted the faceplate and slipped through, attaching to Kane's face. He dropped, squiggled violently to no avail until he finally became still, being completely under the power of the alien. There was a pause where nothing happened, until the cable he'd been attached to the whole time snapped taut and began to pull him out of there.

Ripley was finally able to turn away from the drama, lost in the memory of the terror that had followed back aboard the _Nostromo_.

"- It was quite tragic," Bishop's voice said in her ear. He had seen everything through the small camera on the side of Ripley's head. "- If he hadn't slipped and fallen underneath the barrier, the eggs would never have detected him. Our lives would have turned out quite different had that not happened."

The holographic replay ended, the cargo hold falling into darkness once more. But Ripley was shaken, having witnessed the fate of her former crewmate and friend. Kane's gruesome and bloody death in the mess hall replayed in her head over and over… and that's when the similarity to another circumstance, one that had eluded her finally hit her.

"Raksha was watching the death of the _pilot!_" she exclaimed.

"- You mean the space jockey?" Bishop asked.

"She was playing the logs… and followed it down here!"

"- You mean the creature?"

"The very _first!_" Ripley concurred.

"- Well, there's an interesting thought. Where did that one end up?"

"It disappeared down this tunnel." Ripley retraced the steps of the route that had been unlocked in her mind from the time Raksha had dominated her head. With a feeling of dread, she found the spot where there was a bulge in the wall that looked like a rock formation, but which really was the fossilized surface of a membrane – a cocoon! At first sight nothing seemed disturbed… but there was a hole on top of the crest which Raksha had cracked open with a rock – and from it came a small, but thick vapor of white acrid smoke. Raksha had done something, pouring some of her own life-fluid into the hole. To what end had she done that?

Ripley stretched out with her feelings, attempting to detect something within. To her horror, she did pick up something faint. Not a thought, but more of a feeling. There was a growing rage stirring within, something that was rising from a very long slumber.

_It lives!_ Ripley could hear Raksha's triumphant voice booming in the back of her head. _It's alive! _Raksha's victorious outburst was so intense that Ripley began to bleed from her nose again.

"Goddamn, Raksha," Ripley whispered as she wiped away the blood from her face. "What have you done?"


	29. Tensions rising

Keevan Felger had worked non-stop for hours with the armband devices Bishop had instructed them to build. He had worked fast thanks to the fact that he needed to preoccupy his mind from the death of his twin brother. Already there were eleven small bowl-shaped shells lying ready on the table, with a twelfth almost completed. They were just waiting for dermal regenerator that would be used for covering the shells with a cap.

"What have we got?" Hicks asked as he came to watch the progress after having done a quick check on Newt. The child was still asleep.

"I took the liberty to add some improvements using some stuff that lay strewn around here among the junk," Felger said.

"What kind?"

Keevan Felger held up one of the half-completed wrist-devices. The strap that would serve as the armband was stale, as if it was an immovable plate. "I'm sure you've heard of 'quick-release' straps? This is the opposite of it: they're 'instant lock' bands." He demonstrated by slapping the the whole thing to his wrist – the stale strap instantly folded itself around his arm and locked itself around it. Hicks nodded approvingly for the ingenuity.

"Good call. That'll come in handy."

Just then his radio chirped, and Hicks answered automatically.

"- Corporal, this is Gennaro at the gate. Someone's coming in."

"I'm on my way," Hicks replied. As he had the ability to detect the presence of the Xenomorphs, he made it a rule that he was to be present by the main door to their safehouse whenever a group came back to make sure it was safe to admit them. He quickly walked over to the gate where two of his troopers stood guard. There was someone knocking on the door on the outside.

"Any idea who it is?" Hicks asked the soldiers.

"We thought it better to wait for you," Gennaro replied. Hicks stretched out with his feeling to get a read on if there was some hostility standing outside. He did make out something, but he couldn't quite place it. He went for the communications radio on the side of the door which he flicked on, opening a line to the outside.

"Identify yourself!" he demanded.

"- Give me a break, Hicks. It's me!" Ripley's voice came back. "Open the door!"

"Are you alone out there?"

"- There are no aliens out here if that is what you're concerned about. Now, are you going to let me in or not?"

"Can we take the chance?" Private Gennaro asked the corporal. Hicks took only a second to think it over.

"We can't afford not to. She went out to get some very important equipment. If she got 'em, then we have to let her in." He fiddled with the door controls and unlocked it. Allowing the barrier to slide slightly to the side on its groove, he opened a passage big enough to allow the woman entry.

"You certainly took your sweet time!" Ripley scowled as she walked in, carrying heavy equipment.

"Well, excuse us for being cautious!" Hicks shot back as he sealed the portal again. "Did you get everything?"

"Yeah," she replied. "...but there's something we need to talk about."

"First things first: where's Forster?"

Ripley threw him a callous look. "Didn't he come back?"

"He left with you," Hicks pointed out.

"He went back after dropping me off at the other complex. I came back here using the all-terrain ambulance from the humanitarian ship according to plan. I saw the bus down there when parking it, so he must've got back."

"He never reported here." Hicks let out a heavy sigh, his shoulders sloughing. "Then we can only assume that he was taken by the aliens after he returned. _Darn!_ I should've sent another along with him!"

"Then you would've lost two people instead of just one," Ripley stated. "No point in dwelling on it now – there's nothing you can do to help him. You need to focus on those that are left instead."

"Right," Hicks concurred. "Let's get this stuff to the lab. Now, what did you want to talk about?"

As they carried the equipment to the assembly area, Ripley told Hicks of her discoveries over at the derelict.

"The creature born from the space jockey still _lives _after all this time?" Hicks wasn't sure what he would make of this news.

"It's sealed within a fossilized cocoon, but I did pick up life-signs from it. Somehow Raksha recalled it from its slumber."

"Why should it concern us?" Hicks asked.

"Why shouldn't it?" Ripley countered.

"Well, a fossilized shell is like rock, it's not so easily breakable… and even if it does break out, why should it be a bother above the others? It's just another drone, isn't it?"

"I don't know if we can be so sure of that!"

"What else would it be?" Hicks persisted. "You think it might be another queen?"

"I'm thinking that it might be something _worse!_ Remember, the xenos' carries some similarities to the insect society. Think of the moth or the butterfly: the larva wraps a case around themselves to go through the pupal stage and evolve!"

"Whoa, I don't need to hear 'bout some stinkin' bug life cycles here," Johner blubbered out in his intoxicated state. He had spent the time sitting in a couch, drinking too much of his deadly brew. "Bloody bugs! Hate 'em!"

"Now hold up a minute here, Ripley!" Hicks said. "The creature just incased itself to hibernate, not to grow!"

"How can you be so sure?" Ripley persisted in turn. "How can _any_ of us be sure? What do we know about the Xenomorphs anyway? What do we know about the race of the space jockey? What did they do to create them if it indeed were them who did it? What did they add to the mix? This stage of the xeno could very well be just one level of the evolutionary chain they've gone through. They could have gone past several kinds of species to get to how we know them today! Don't forget that the xenos' take the traits of the hosts they gestate within!"

"I don't need to hear that!" Johner called out again.

"You can't be serious!" Hicks turned to the computer console. "Bishop, have you been listening to this? You examined them thoroughly to make that disc - surely such a thing isn't possible, is it?"

"- I'm afraid it is," said the disembodied android. "- My theory is that the race of the space jockey created the creatures as a weapon. And what better a weapon than one that can evolve and update its destructive power by itself?"

"Sounds like a typical military thing," said Adrienne Kinloch, who came in from the ward. Hicks wondered if she had slept at all, but he decided not to ask. She was a grown woman, and a civilian. Hicks had no say in what routines she should act upon.

"And from everything that I hear about this species, I have to concur:" the doctor continued. "It is very likely that one of those things could go through a metamorphosis when being cocooned for so long if they do have any similarity to insects."

"Could you stop talking about bugs?!" Johner whined. He had a phobia for insects.

"So what can we expect?" Hicks asked, growing more concerned.

"Who knows?" said the biologist. "The moth and the butterfly develop wings during their pupal stage."

"Well, wouldn't that top it all if we had to deal with a _flying_ alien!" Hicks muttered. "Well, no point in worrying about it now, let us just hope that the fossilized membrane can hold it trapped. We should continue with our own plan! You got everything you set out to get?"

"I already told you that I did!" Ripley said somewhat testily and handed the dermal regenerator to the doctor together with the soft tissue-sample she had taken from the control pit in the derelict. The other made a quick look-over of the equipment, especially to make sure that it was all the way filled with the raw-materials recuired to mix biological compounds and she was pleased to find that it was. "Excellent."

"Felger's got some pieces finished," Hicks informed the women. "Why not get started?"

Adrienne had no objections. Sitting down at the worktable where the surviving twin assembled the devices, the biologist began to prepare the equipment. Meanwhile Hicks brought forward a box containing small objects.

"What are those?" Ripley asked.

"Power packs," Hicks answered. "Small miniature cells the scientists kept in store for their mini-computers, electronic note-pads, and other carriable equipment. They may not look like much to our eyes since our own time, but they are quite powerful. I had some of my people who had some minor technical skills to add a press-switch to the conductive plates on each of them that will open the circuit whenever we want to. We'll just have to connect them to the main battery you brought back to charge them."

"They better be insulated enough to contain the power," Ripley stated as she put the heavy battery on the table. "That energy from the derelict is quite wild so to speak. Bishop wasn't kidding with that simulation he showed us: if the power gets loose, it will run amok and do serious damage."

"Then we'll proceed with caution," Hicks said as he put one of the miniature power pack to the main connector of the larger battery.

"Wait! _Don't…!"_Adrienne shouted, getting halfway to her feet from her seat.

"Hey!" Keevan Felger started to say at the same time. "You should probably wear…" Neither of the two got any further as a sudden spark of lightning flashed from the connector and made Hicks jerk his arm back, and he howled. He held on to his arm that had gone momentarily numb, cursing.

"Hey, that's some nice lightshow…" Johner laughed.

"I tried to warn you," Felger said. "You should wear rubber gloves when doing that to avoid getting electrocuted."

"Absolutely," Adrienne agreed. "What did you just say about _caution?! _Good thing these labs are insulated in the floors, as energy always seek to return to the ground. It was the small cell that was the main conductor in this case, so it was that which absorbed the charge – but had that jolt sought to go _through_ you and pass your heart on the way, you'd be dead now!"

"My heart is artificial…" Hicks grumbled as he shook his hand.

"That means you got a pacemaker," Adrienne pointed out. "…and that makes it even worse! You want to risk frying it? No, Corporal, you are not to put your life at stake like that! Let someone else handle the battery."

"Always do what the doctor orders," Ripley threw at Hicks with a hint of a snicker. He didn't appreciate the sarcasm.

As Keevan Felger was their foremost expert in mechanics of everybody present, he dealt with charging the small power packs as well. Things got interesting from there: the small battery pack was placed within the casing of the armband made from the materials of the derelict, and then the doctor began her work with the dermal regenerator. She had put the sample of the bio-silicone material Ripley had collected from the derelict into the analyzation tube of the device to allow it to read the composition it was to duplicate. She then put the dual tip of the handle to the edge of the small cup and began to weave a new membrane directly from the shell that would cover the whole thing, binding the molecules together.

"Be ready with the android fluid," she said as she was almost finished. Leaving just a tiny hole, Felger inserted a needle of a syringe that was filled with the white liquid that had been taken from Call's body. They filled it until the armband was bloated with the white, and then Adrienne covered it completely with the regenerator, making a hermetical seal.

"Amazing," Hicks said astonished. "And you said you used that to graft new skin to Newt's chest?"

"That's right," Adrienne confirmed.

The mention of the girl's name made Ripley look frantically around. She was used to that the child usually was so very quiet, that you sometimes tended to forget if she was around - a habit she had taken on when surviving alone in her colony… but now it hit the woman that she hadn't seen the young at all since she got back.

"Speaking of which, where is she?" Ripley asked, feeling tension grip to her spine.

"In bed, asleep," Hicks answered.

The relief of the tension was so great that Ripley momentarily felt lightheaded. Throwing a glance behind her, she spotted the closed door to the area that Hicks had claimed as his own. She left the table and began to walk towards it.

"Where are you going?" the corporal called after her.

"I need to see her!" Just a quick peek. Just to make sure she was fine.

"I think you need to leave her alone, Ripley!"

The woman halted in her tracks, slowly looking back at the man. She indicated with her head that he would come and join her by her side. He did. When Ripley addressed him in a whispering tone so that no other would hear, her voice was nearly laced with venom.

"_Why_ are you trying to keep me away from her?"

Hicks' own tone-level was devoid of his usual calm demeanor. "You got a lot of _nerve_ asking that, after what you did!"

Ripley had to fight really hard to keep her cool, as the words stung terribly. "That's real low…"

"But it is what's it about! She doesn't trust you!"

"You don't _know_ that!" But those were words said in panic. Deep down, Ripley didn't believe them herself. Hicks knew that as well.

"I know more than you think! It was _I_ who protected her after we were picked up on Fiorina - she confided many things to me. She was hurt, Ripley! She was hurt really bad! And I'm not just talking about from the pain of the autopsy!"

Ripley became exasperated. "I _know_ what I did, and I will never _ever_ be able to make that up to her! It will be my greatest regret for the rest of my life! But if I turn my back on her now, it'll be a pain that will never go away for either of us! She may not feel that way right now, but she _needs_ me! I'm the only one she's got!"

Hicks shook his head, pitying the woman. "Do you really think that you are the _only_ one who loves her?"

"What? You…?"

"You of all people should know. That's the thing about that child: once you allow yourself to start to like her, you don't stop. And before you know it, you're standing prepared to _die_ for her! That's where I am, Ripley: I'd do _anything_ – including giving up my life - to keep her safe… and she knows that I would, as that was practically how I left her two-hundred years ago."

The woman thought back to the incident in the elevator shaft. "She called you 'Dad'…"

"That's how comfortable she feels with me."

The tension she had felt before was creeping all over her again, freezing her insides. She felt how she was losing the child, the one small lifeform that was the most precious to her in this era. The very thought pained her so badly that her voice became a hoarse whisper, barely audible.

"You think that I would hurt her again… I would _never!_"

"I can't be sure of that! Neither can Newt."

"I was _deranged_, Hicks! I was so struck by grief that the two of you had died that I did things I never would have _done!_"

"Oh, I know that you didn't do it intentionally. There was no way for you to know that we could be revived – that's not the problem."

"Then what _is?!"_

"The _other_ you! Raksha! It's _that_ wild beast I don't want anywhere near her!"

For some reason, Ripley almost felt like laughing. "Raksha can't hurt her, Hicks."

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

"Because as she became blended with me when I was resurrected, she got some of my human traits in the process which hinder her to do things I myself would never do. I love Newt as if she were my own child, and I could never bring myself to intentionally harm her – my own mother-instincts strictly prohibits that as it has been genetically enhanced by the alien-side of me! That's why Raksha can't do it either, not as long as I'm in control and she is in the backseat."

"She came forward and attacked me when we were about to burn the aliens!" Hicks pointed out.

"Because _her_ children were in danger, and because I was unprepared as I thought she had been beaten after being rejected. But Newt helps me keep Raksha at bay, Hicks - you saw it as I was about to beat up Ryan. She stopped me! She's the only one who can stop me that effectively without getting hurt. Can't you see, Hicks? It's not only that she needs me: _I_ need _her! _It's only through _her_ that I can regain my full humanity! Otherwise there will be no stopping my dark side nemesis… she will come forward to stop _you_ \- and if we fail to destroy these last bunch of creatures; then she will win, and all will be lost for both you and me!"

Hicks stood looking at the woman, contemplating on what she had said. He let out a sigh before speaking. "It's not that easy… she's in a very sensitive state right now. I won't risk doing anything that might upset her."

"She's strong," Ripley said, not fully comprehending what the other was talking about.

"Even the strongest have a breaking point," Hicks replied, shaking his head. "And I've seen signs that Newt is dangerously close to hers. I don't want to take any chances, Ripley. Unless she asks for someone, no one goes into that room right now… not you, not me – not anyone!"

Hicks' decision to declare the room 'off limits' fitted somebody who was eavesdropping on their conversation perfectly. Zack Ryan, the person that everybody disliked, was making his steps towards that very room.


	30. Zack Ryan's biggest mistake

Zacharias 'Zack' Ryan was a distinctive character who had one specific personality trait that was the dominating force of his whole life: he had an authority issue of an unimaginable proportion. Of all the things he detested in the world, his number one on the hate-list was to be ruled by laws and regulations. Zack Ryan was of the opinion that if you wanted to have something specific, you just claim it - laws were not to stand in the way. He didn't care at all if acquiring the need was unjust to another person in the process. From his perspective, the galaxy were just like the laws of the jungle: the one with power takes it all - that was his mantra.

Zack Ryan's main problem though was that he didn't have any power. Socially he was a lowlife: a nobody – and he blamed his parents for that. He always blamed others for his setbacks, never himself.

Born in an urban neighborhood, his family wasn't rich, but neither were they poor. They had what they needed to stay afloat, and that was quite a feat in itself considering the state the Earth was in of the 24:th century. Zacharias was an only child, so he didn't have to deal with the competition of siblings. But being an only child was what caused most of the problems while growing up: he was expected to help with the chores in the household, and doing that just didn't fit with his way of life… he disliked to work as well. He didn't want to become a servant to either his parents or to the society - he wanted to _be_ served.

Having just enough to live on was never enough for young Zack Ryan. Living close to the main city, he saw everyday others have what he didn't, and that made him grow bitter. He detested his parents for not being rich enough to have a luxury house with servants, garages with sportscars and where the wealthy sons who didn't have to work were surrounded with beautiful girls. Because of his bad temperament and his lust to have respect, he was easily seduced by the darker side of the suburban society. The local gangs in the city gave a promise of the life Zack Ryan coveted with cool cars and lots of money. The fact that the money earned were being made through criminal deeds did not bother him the least - Zack lacked sympathy for others since he felt that no one had any sympathy for him. So at the age of thirteen, he joined his first gang.

But being a gang-member wasn't what he had expected: like with every community, there was a hierarchy, and he was to start at the bottom like everybody else. He was told by the veterans in the gang: do well, do as you are told, and always be prepared to do better than everybody else, and you just might climb the ranks to earn the privileges together with the cool stuff the gang-leaders had within a couple of years. But all that were the sort of 'struggle' Zack Ryan had sought to escape from! He was not an errand boy – he wanted power immediately! (Naturally he lacked patience as well.) Because of that, he was the uncooperative member of the gang who didn't get anywhere while other newer recruits quickly grew past him in positions. To add to the insults, he was excluded from bonuses and from parties because he didn't participate in the 'work' being done. That made him even more angry and rebellious, so he started to steal valuables from the gang. His excuse was that he felt he deserved it because the others simply were against him and didn't want to give him any chance. When he was caught, he got what the gang felt was what he really deserved... Zack was expelled, and was hospitalized for months after the special 'good-bye' ceremony that was reserved for traitors.

One might think that Zack would've learned his lesson after that, but he had not. Because of his unwillingness to follow rules others made, he set out to start his own gang where he would be the leader. But to gain the power and respect he needed to start a gang, he needed money. The time with the illegal group hadn't been a total waste: he had picked up a few tricks on how to hotwire cars, lift valuables, and knowing which receiver was likely to pay him best for the stuff he stole. But working solo included several risks. Since he didn't have the protection of a gang, he was caught several times and prosecuted. That only made him grow even more aversive of the police and the authority who in his mind interfered in his business. Again he would put the blame onto others for his setbacks.

After a couple of years having gone in and out of prison and having been disowned by his parents, (in reality he had disowned them first as he felt they were to blame for being poor,) Zack Ryan finally came to realize that he had no choice… to get the power and respect he so desperately sought, he had to climb the steps of hierarchy within the already established groups. Ryan escaped to France. His reputation for being uncooperative made it so that no other group in his hometown would accept him.

It was in Paris he came in contact with the junk traders. One wouldn't believe it, but there were plenty of money that could be made from old parts that were no longer in production. If there was one trait Ryan could take pride of, it was his ability to recognize what parts that carried the most value. He also knew which one of all the traders it was whom sought the specific individual part as each had their own kind of customers. Since Ryan detested physical work and would not exert himself to gather parts, he would not be a full-time scavenger. Instead he managed to talk the Traders' guild into using him as a liaison agent: a monger on the streets. His job was to direct the scavengers to take their booty to the right trader – if it was considered to be worth their time!

On most occasions, the pieces the scavengers wanted to sell were just what they appeared to be; a worthless piece of scrap. But once in a while, an amateur might drop in with an exclusive trinket, and then Ryan would scam the sucker off of it for just a percentage of its actual worth - then he brought it himself to the trader that would get the most out of it, and Ryan would get a bonus for the true worth the junk dealer sold for it, minus the cost for acquiring it. Basically it meant: the cheaper Ryan paid for it; the more would he get when selling the part. He would also receive a percentage when providing the traders with new customers that were seeking to buy a large stock of parts… that was how Ryan first came in contact with Frank Elgyn, the former captain of the _Betty_. Frank Elgyn was way too smart to be conned by Zack Ryan, so there were no business propositions done between them – but Ryan still kept a bit of grace with him as he saw an opportunity with the ship Elgyn commanded. The _Betty_ was a scrapheap, not worth its while in its current state. But imagine if he could _disassemble_ it: it was almost three centuries old, so there were plenty of parts in that thing that had not been in production for hundreds of years. The individual parts would be worth a fortune! Unfortunately captain Elgyn and his wench for pilot Hillard never let their guard down around the ship, so there was no way for him to get to it.

That changed however over a year ago. The crew of the _Betty_ came back, their ship being heavily damaged and in need of repair – and with a dramatic change of personnel as well! Frank Elgyn was dead, and so was Hillard, together with one of the heavy hitters in the form of Christie. The _Betty_ had instead been commandeered by a _woman_. Ryan's dislike for women was well known in the Traders' guild - it all came from his resentment of being told what to do. In his eyes, and also because he hadn't been taught otherwise - women were _parasites!_ In the neighborhood where he grew up and in the gangs, the girls always swarmed around those who were wealthy and in power, never laying eyes on the likes of him. That made him take on the chauvinist thinking that women were nothing but possessions, trophies for the ones who were strong enough to wrench power – again: the laws of the jungle. The king of the flock takes it all. And if women were nothing but possessions, then they should in his opinion know their places – Ryan would absolutely not let a 'possession' rule over him! Never in his life!

As he considered women to be parasites, Ryan concluded from his short-minded opinion that women were by nature too stupid and too incompetent to become something better - that's why they were so worthless. That's why he found it so laughable that a woman had commandeered the _Betty_. It was probably due to _her_ incompetence that the ship had been wrecked it in the first place. But the opportunity presented was too good to let pass - as Zack Ryan figured that the worthless woman, Ripley, would never be able keep control of the ship she so laughingly had commandeered, he saw a chance to simply _take it!_

That was the real reason Ryan had gone aboard the _Betty_. True, the costs were indeed horrendous as Call had said to get the _Betty_ shipshape again, but the expenses they've paid had been enough. The crew of the _Betty_ had no dept to the junk traders - that was an elaborate lie. Ryan's plan had been to abandon the crew at the first opportunity, steal the ship and disassemble it for the parts to sell. He hadn't counted on though that Ripley turned out to be a lunatic.

He was not in for Ripley's quest to eradicate the aliens, which he at first hadn't even believed in. He'd figured it was just some delusional idea she had got from a bad dream or something. But as it was, he took advantage of her delusions when Ripley had hit all those high-tech facilities. It was his ticket in to acquire some valuable technology. Let the silly woman go by her ludicrous quest – he went by his! The stuff he stole was going to make him the fortune he needed to gain the power he craved. Ryan took inspiration from all the known mafia-bosses around the globe: those with enough wealth and power who sometimes could control even the local authorities. That's what Zack Ryan wanted: if he could control the authorities, then _his_ rule would be law! He didn't like to take orders, but to _give_ them, that was something he wouldn't mind at all getting used to.

There was one mafia-boss in particular that the likes of Ryan really admired: the one who had made enough money through his crimes that he could buy himself his own moon. That was the grandest achievement of them all: having your own private moon was literally like having your own country. The rules of Earth did not apply on those isolated stellar bodies - the one who owned a moon was free to instigate any law he wanted, and no police or even the military could do anything about it as long as there were no established coalitions made between them and the owners.

To have your own moon was Zack Ryan's impossible dream. No matter how much valuable goods he stole, he would hardly even have enough to cover the interest on the first down payment – but that seemed to have just changed! He had been absolutely livid when the _Betty_ had crashed, destroying everything he had collected. But something extraordinary had come into his way instead which made the earlier booty superfluous. That little brat that had showed up from somewhere was in possession of an item that was more valuable than _anything_ he would ever get his hands on! He could see himself even now settling down on his very own moon, being the youngest ever to have one - where his words would be the law – where he would be _king!_ No longer would he serve anybody – everybody would have to serve _him!_ His moon would be the sanctuary for all wanted criminals – those who could afford to pay the clearance for admittance! He would have casinos. He would have workers farming weed and other narcotics. He would allow no extractions of the criminals, (unless he was handsomely paid,) and he would store contrabands, for a 70 percent share of its worth! He wouldn't have to lift a finger to make all the money. Life would be glorious – and all he needed was to take that poly-whatever-its-name tool from the brat! He had heard her saying that she really didn't want it – well, he had much _better_ use for it. And he had no intention on asking her for it – he already considered himself deserving it more than she did. And later he would get his hands on that valuable dermal regenerator as well. For that he would be able to buy a pleasure cruiser.

Making sure once again that no one was looking, he was quietly sneaking into the room where the young girl lay asleep. Ryan neither had the patience nor any other care for kids, but as he watched her sleep, even he could tell that the child possessed the features of a real beauty. Who knows, when she was old enough - if she lived that long - Ryan might be willing to admit her into his harem. It wasn't like he really despised the company of females, as long as they were of the kind he preferred. When he was rich and powerful, the girls would start swarming around him instead, and he would admit them for his pleasure – for a while! He would only take those between sixteen and twenty-two of age… but once they had gone past that age, or if he happened to get tired of them before that, (like if they got pregnant,) he would kill them! Some of his favorites he might allow to remain alive, but he would carve their faces to pieces, making them so revolting to look at so that none would ever want them. Zack Ryan would not allow _anyone_ to have _anything_ he had once owned: trinkets and women alike! If this child who he was just about to liberate from the tool was to be nice to him in the future, she might just live… but she would be in a world of hurt now if she dared to wake up before he had gotten the treasure he sought.

The girl seemed to have an unpleasant dream, but that was something Ryan had no sympathy for at all. It was only fortunately for her that she slept on. As long as she continued to do that, this would go quickly. Zack Ryan extended his hand to go in under the blanket and search for the precious item…

A shrilly hiss made him jerk his hand back. The _cat!_ He had forgotten about it! It was staring at him menacingly with its tail bottled, fur standing on end and spitting ferociously.

"Shut up, you!" Ryan hissed back.

Jones the cat was very enraged. He may not be fully comprehensive on what had happened to him during the past years he had been forced to spend in stasis or where he had finally ended up... but he was a very adaptable creature, so wherever his path had taken him, he knew how to settle into his new environments. It was typical that he would have to choose a new human for a companion, but the one he had selected; the young girl whose bed he slept in, was one he had grown very fond of. Unlike the others in this strange place who all seemed to have a dislike for him, the girl was kind and lovable despite the fact that she also was sensitive and insecure. And she was easy to entertain. As a cat he had the embarrassing job to please humans so that they would continue to give him food and provide for his other needs – and he was very conscientious about his job to the grade that he would not let anyone disturb the bond he had made with the other. Jones was a smart cat – he knew which of the people around here it were who cared for the girl's welfare as much as he did – and which of those who seemed to want to harm her! And this intruder definitely fitted into the last category! Jones had disliked this one from the start as he radiated bad vibes, and the fact that he had come into this room where he had no business spelled that he was up to no good! He was a threat!

Jones hissed again, showing his pointy teeth and had his claws revealed, warning the intruder to not come any closer.

"Blasted little wretch! Shut up!" Ryan threw his clenched hand against the feline to knock it away or even knock it unconscious, he didn't care which. But that was an act that would cost him dearly. Now as his hostile intentions were very clear, the cat charged. With a ferocious growl, Jones jumped with his claws extended.

* * *

There were two kinds of screams reaching the people outside the private little room: one was a howl that was mixed from a reaction of surprise and agony, which was shortly followed by the primordial sound of a frightened child. It was the latter that made Hicks and Ripley scramble for immediate aid, the two adults rushing towards the enclosed chamber feeling nothing else but the urgent need to protect the little girl they both loved more than anything.

The scene that greeted them inside took a moment for them to fully take in. Newt was sitting up in her bed clutching the blanket to her chest, staring wild-eyed and extremely shaken up at the commotion on the floor. A man was lying there wriggling, clawing with his arms at a shape plastered over his face while he screamed loudly and incoherently. At first the adults thought it was a facehugger attack, which would explain why the child was so frightened – but then they saw that the attacking thing had a body that was completely covered with orange fur, and had only four limbs where the facehugger had eight. It was the cat!

They each reacted with their respective instincts. Hicks may have strong feelings for Newt, but he also felt a responsibility for the men under his command – and since he could see that the child wasn't in an immediate danger, he went to assist the other. Ripley on the other hand went straight for the child and put some protective arms around her.

It came with some difficulty together with risks, but Hicks managed to remove the furious animal from the still screaming man's face. It was fortunate that his hands were partly wrapped in bandages, or he would suffer some serious claw- and bitemarks from the wild feline.

"_My eyes! My eyes!"_ screamed the man after he had been de-catted. Ripley recognized him now and felt a fury of her own overwhelm her.

"Ryan! What the hell are _you_ doing in here?!" she demanded. When the slob didn't answer as he was too busy clutching at his face, the woman nearly exploded with rage. She left Newt's side and strode over to grab the other by his collar. "Answer me! What are you _doing_ in here?! What did you _do_ to her?!"

Although Hicks would like to know that answer as well, he had to intervene – he saw something which the woman obviously in her rage didn't.

"Ripley, wait…"

"I'm not waiting! This creep will answer me, or I will…"

"Stop! Look at him! Look at him!"

That was more than what Zack Ryan was capable of doing now.

* * *

Ten minutes after the incident, Ryan was still screaming.

"Hold him still!" Adrienne Kinloch said with clear irritation as she tried to examine the bloody pulps within the other's eye-sockets with a handheld medical probe.

"_My eyes! I can't see!"_ Ryan cried while two soldiers fought to keep him steady. Galna was one of them.

"That's no wonder," Adrienne commented. "The cat scratched out your irises, with corneas and all. You're blind."

"_Aaaargh!_ I'm gonna _kill_ that wretch! _I'll skin it alive!_"

"You got _yourself_ to blame!" Hicks said in a forceful tone. Now as he'd had the time to assimilate the incident, he had worked up quite an anger himself. "The cat was only protecting his master! What were you up to? You had _no business_ in there whatsoever!"

The cat in question was still locked up in the small bedroom – Hicks thought it better until they had sorted this out. As for Newt, she was sitting quietly on a bench a bit farther away from the adults, hugging her knees to her chest. To her it was just like the time back at Hadley's hope after the Company rep Carter Burke had tried to kill her. The situation was incomprehensible to the child… why had that man tried to assault her? What had she done to him? It was a question Zack Ryan was unwilling to answer.

"_What were you doing in there?!"_ Hicks demanded to know again. "I swear: if you went in there to… to…" He did not want to finish the sentence to the heinous thought. "…then God help me: I will kill you _myself!_"

"I should have killed him _long ago!"_ Ripley snarled.

"That doesn't make any sense," Keevan Felger put in. "He hates women – why would he be interested in little girls?"

"Are you saying he's gay?" Galna asked.

"_Don't insult me!"_ Ryan spat in reply. "I _hate_ faggots!"

Someone in the back crowd began to laugh. "And everybody says _I'm_ a daft baboon!" Johner of all people stepped forward. "It's quite _obvious_ what he was after..."

"Well, why don't you share it?" Ripley demanded.

"C'mon, Ripley, he's been stealing hardware stuff from anywhere he could ever since he got aboard with us." Johner pointed out.

Hicks understood. "Her _tool!_ The polysizable screwdriver!"

"Didn't you see the look on his face when Felger said that the thing could buy a moon? He was practically _drooling!_" Johner backed down when he caught the look on Ripley's face. "Perhaps I should have said something sooner…" he mumbled as he retreated.

Hicks stared intently at the runt. "In some cultures around the galaxy, thieves get their hands amputated when caught stealing… being robbed of your eye-sight is perhaps an adequate punishment…"

"NO!" Ryan protested. "I have my _rights!_ You'll fix my eyes _right now!_ I want to see!"

"There's hardly anything to fix," Adrienne said, her voice only barely revealing a slightest hint of sympathy for the crook. "Your right cornea is hanging by some threads – even if attempting to reattach it, you'd only retain about twenty percent of your original sight. Of your other there's nothing left to do anything with."

"_Fix my eyes, you sodding wench!"_

The last shred of sympathy the doctor had for the other evaporated. "I _can't_ fix them, and neither can anybody else!"

"_You lie!_ You bitches always lie because you want to put yourselves above the males! You got that regenerator thing!"

"It _can't_ do that!" The doctor was extremely angered now.

Ryan lunged forward with his hands stretched forward, following her voice in an attempt to strangle her. The soldiers had to hold him back. "_Bitch! You want to deny me what's mine like everybody else always do!"_

"Try to _understand_: the dermal regenerator can only graft new skin; it can't produce lost body parts! That's beyond the medical science we got at our disposal!"

"_You bastards! I'll kill you all! I'll kill you! I'll __**kill**__ you!"_

* * *

In the end they had to knock Ryan out with a heavy sedative to get him under control. Even though he didn't deserve it, the doctor did what she could with what remained of the runt's right eye, and then she went back to finish sealing the armband devices. Hicks carefully examined one that had been finished while he consulted with Bishop's head on the viewer.

"It really don't look like much," he said skeptically. "Are you sure this will do the job?"

"- The only thing you can do is to try it on and test it," Bishop said simply. Hicks slapped the device onto his wrist – the self-sealing band instantly wrapped itself around his arm and locked on.

"Are you certain you want to be the guinea pig, Hicks?" Ripley asked. "If anything goes wrong, you're going to get consumed by the energy."

"I'm the one who took charge of these people," Hicks replied determinately. "As a commander, I have to be prepared to do the exact same thing I would ask of my men - that means that I have to be prepared to take the risks before them!"

"You certainly carry the role of a leader well," the woman returned, her words being absolutely genuine.

"A role I never desired… Right, here goes…" Hicks pressed the squishy cap on top of the device, activating it. Almost instantly a field of blue energy spread out from the armband which seemed to crawl all over the corporal's body, wrapping him in a faint blue shimmer.

"- Excellent!" Bishop said. "- The energy travelled along your body's own electrical field and settled itself as a layer above it! The device is a success!"

"Success?" Johner questioned. "I thought you said that he would become invisible. I sure still can see him!"

"- Your spectrum of light can still make out his features beneath the field," Bishop corrected. "- …but to the aliens, as they use another perception of sight which is different to yours, he'll be invisible. They won't be able to detect him as they are unable to see past the field of energy."

"There'll be a field-test for them as we'll venture out to the reactor compartment," Hicks commented as he switched the device off.

"Right into the bug-hive," Johner shot back. "If those things doesn't work, you'll be dead!"

"Which will be no different in any other circumstance. This is the best and only shot we got – and if these doesn't work, than we can all just as well put the muzzle of a gun to our temples."

"We can always fall back to that as a last resort," Ripley said in an attempt of a joke. No one appreciated it, but that was something the woman took no notice of. She had another thing on her mind.

"We should test all the other devices before doing anything else – but this one seems to work fine. I want Newt to have it."

Hicks unstrapped the armband from his wrist. "I've got no problem with that."

But it turned out that there was a problem, and a serious one at that. The girl was gone.


	31. The new royalty

There was no sign of Newt. Although Hicks had roused everybody on their toes to look for her, the child wasn't to be found anywhere within the safehouse.

"Where is she?" Ripley asked, having a cold shiver freezing her spine. "Where has she gone?!"

"Hell if I knew," Hicks replied, being just as concerned as she.

"Did you check under the bed?"

"That was the first place I looked, but there's only the cat in there."

Galna was coming back from one of the back areas. "Sorry, Sir, she's not back there either."

"And you found nothing out of the ordinary? Nothing that looked out of place?"

Galna shrugged. "Nothing except for a loose grille..."

Hicks looked at the other sharply. "To the ventilation ducts?!"

"Yeah, the cover was put to the side, but… surely the kid couldn't have gone in there? It's such a narrow conduit that I doubt even that cat could fit in it!"

"That kid can squirm into places no one would even begin to imagine!" the corporal shot back, knowing exactly what the girl was capable of.

Ripley's face fell. "Why? Why did she leave?!"

Hicks' shoulders sloughed. "I should have seen it coming… I saw the signs…"

"_What_ signs?!"

"It happened twice on the _Hercules_ when the situation became too much for her… she cracked! She may look composed around us, but deep inside she's very frightened. When she reaches her breaking point, she runs off to get away from everything. The first time it happened, she almost died! Ryan's attack on her must've made her snap again…"

"I'll _kill_ him!" Ripley roared, taking a step to do just that.

"We should find her first and get her back!" Hicks said, even though he'd like to strangle Ryan himself.

"Naturally!" Ripley almost spat. "But how do you propose we do that? Do you have any idea where she might've gone?"

"There may be a way to find out…" Hicks walked up to the computer terminal. "Bishop! Can you find Newt through the cameras?"

"- I cannot," the computerized head said. "- Every camera has been rendered out of commission. The aliens have disabled all of them."

"What do you mean 'the aliens have disabled them'?!" Johner asked incredulously from the back. "They're just _bugs!_ How could _they_ know that those cameras are important to us?!"

The pirate was ignored – Hicks had his sole attention focused on the disembodied android. "You must have _some_ way to track her?!"

"- Well, I suppose I could patch into the tower's communications array and recalibrate the transmissions disc to make a wide-berth sweep of the area to scan for her PDT. The frequency of her personal data transmitter should be detectable by the radio-band if I just…"

"Stop babbling Bishop, and _do it!"_

It took a few seconds for the bodyless synthetic to make his preparations, but for Hicks and Ripley every second passed felt like very long minutes. On some occasions, Bishop gave a progress report, but nothing that would ease the two adults worry for the lost little child. "- No PDT detected," Bishop reported. "- I'll try to have the signal boosted." Another couple of seconds crawled by before the digitalized android said something positive.

"- Ah. There she is."

"_Where?!"_ both Ripley and Hicks demanded at the same time.

"- Curious… she's inside the umbilical conduit that connects the two structures, heading towards the other building."

"She's going back to the _Habitat complex?!"_ Hicks burst out totally bewildered. "Why would she do that?!"

Had Bishop had any physical presence, he would've shrugged. "- I cannot give any theory to why she took that decision. A child's mind is of an impulsive nature – but I dare say, knowing her personality, is that she acts upon some kind of plan. What her plan is however, I don't have enough data to speculate on."

"I don't get it…" Hicks mumbled. "Jacob McHagen is as much an enemy to her as the aliens are. She came over here in the first place to get _away_ from him, feeling she stood a better chance with the creatures as she knew how to avoid them despite the fact that she hates them. What has changed her mind?"

Adrienne Kinloch stepped forward. "Please don't take this the wrong way, I know that you are greatly concerned for the child… but with all things considered, don't you think that this is a better development that she's going back there?"

Ripley turned to the doctor with a reproachful glare. "Why?"

"I don't know her reasons, but whatever they are: she's much safer at the habitat complex than she would be over here. This plan of yours to have this rocket we're in to take off and blow up… can you really guarantee us all getting to safety before you send it into oblivion?"

"Hey, the lady's got a point!" Johner intervened. "How do we know that this plan of yours isn't a _suicide_ mission?"

Hicks took a few seconds before answering. "We don't," he finally admitted. "Anything can go wrong… the rocket could blow prematurely…"

"With _us_ in it!" Johner spat.

"But not the girl!" Adrienne pointed out. "What better can you ask for? Right now you know where she is, and it isn't here! That's what you really want, isn't it? Whatever happens, she'll be safe!"

"Hey! Pardon me for being more concerned of me being safe rather than her!" the pirate protested.

"You can find out later why she left," the doctor continued, ignoring the other. "But for now: I think you should _continue the mission!_ And that's something I don't say lightly!"

Hicks turned to the other woman. "I think, Ripley, that the doc is making some very strong points."

"Duly noted," Ripley grumbled.

Johner wasn't convinced though. "Are _you_ really prepared to throw away your life for this?" he asked the biologist.

"Not really, but I _know_ what's at stake! There's no way I will just stand by and risk having those monsters run wild over some populated areas! It's a madness how the military corporation will pursue getting their hands on this species in the name of profit, and I owe it to the galaxy to redeem my family name of the crimes my father participated in for that sake!"

"Well, that's _your_ problem! I ain't got anything to do with that!"

"Actually, Johner… you _do!_" Ripley pointed out. "Or perhaps you didn't think of mentioning to the doctor here that it was _you_ and the rest of Elgyn's team who hijacked that passenger liner, stole the sleeper pods, and delivered them to the _Auriga_ for money?"

The pirate looked troubled, especially with Dr. Kinloch giving him a very dark look. "I… I didn't know what they were going to _do_ with them!"

"But until you did, you didn't give a damn! The question is: do you want any more incidents of that kind on your conscience? You can help us destroy the aliens now… or you can turn your back and live. But in case we fail, can you in the future live with learning of people falling victims to the xenomorphs knowing you could have stopped them before they spread? Do you want to take that chance?"

"That's below the belt, Ripley!"

"Choose now, Johner – are you in or out?"

Johner emptied his thermos to his mouth before he replied. "Fine. I'm in." He didn't sound so happy about it.

"Then it's settled," Hicks said. "We'll pick up Newt later – until then, we're continuing the mission like we planned. We need two teams: one that will accompany me to the reactor room and re-attach the fuel-lines to the engines, and one that needs to go to the bridge to prepare this rocket to take-off as soon as we're done. We'll leave this complex in the captured vehicles when everything's ready and let this rocket reach for the sky and oblivion."

"And what then afterwards?" Johner asked.

"Then we're facing the music from Jacob McHagen."

"He'll have us all arrested!" Galna pointed out.

"But by then all of the aliens should be destroyed, which is what the whole deal you've made with me was! He may have us arrested, but we should be brought back to Earth for trial. We'll deal with that situation there!"

"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind…" Galna grumbled.

"Well, it's way too late to back out now," Hicks said with a bit of force in his tone. "This is our plan and we're going through with it no matter what the consequences… you're just going to have to live with it! Now, who is volunteering for our two teams?"

"- A third team is required," Bishop said from the screen.

"What for?"

"- Newt's unexpected departure has risen a factor that none here have thought of to take into the equations, and which will cause unpredictable consequences through the blast-off if we don't deal with it beforehand."

Hicks was bewildered by Bishop's unnecessary long objection. "What are you talking about?"

"- I'm talking about the umbilical conduit Newt crawled through that connects the two complexes. It houses several cables and wires that is multi-attached to several different strongpoints within this structure. If it were to take off, the conduit would act like a _tether!_"

"Whoa, whoa… he's right," Keevan Felger said. "The other complex would act like an anchor to the flying ship, preventing it to sail away! The umbilical will throw it off course in flight, making the engines stall, and who knows where it would fall down? It could very well crash down into the other complex, destroying it completely and thereby destroying our means to get off this planet!"

"Ah, that's _perfect! Wonderful!"_ Hicks was losing his cool – Ripley had seen that kind of mood before, but with another commander. It was similar to how Lieutenant Gorman had reacted when he learned that the marines couldn't fire their pulse-rifles underneath the cooling-systems of the atmosphere processor 200 years ago.

The corporal made an effort to collect himself. "All right… how do we disconnect it?"

"- Doing it manually will take far too long and present too much risks," Bishop informed him.

"Blow it," said Ripley.

"What?"

"Put a shaped charge to it and blow it right before take-off."

Hicks turned to the surviving twin. "Are you feeling up to creating another bomb and take a stroll outside in a hazard suit?"

"To avenge my brother, I'm feeling up to _anything!_"

* * *

Unbeknownst to everybody residing within the two complexes, something else was going on within the bowels of the currently abandoned derelict. Deep inside the secluded corners of the cargo hold containing the dead alien eggs, the protuberance made of fossilized material of unknown origin was trembling. Since the shell was like solid rock, the tremor was completely unnoticeable had somebody been around to watch it – but tremble it did. What would be more noticeable was what was going on with the hole in the crest Raksha had made, in which she had poured some of her own life-fluid and allowing the living cells in her blood to re-animate the creature that was sealed inside. A vapor of thick acrid smoke was flowing out though the hole – should somebody attempt to touch it; his hand would be burned. The rock bulged, like a massive force was pressing outwards from inside, and in the texture of the fossilized material, a hairline fissure began to appear together with a rumbling of an animalistic roar that sounded like it would have come from the depths of hell…

* * *

"Things have been too quiet for too long…" Colonel Benelli stated. All the staff members were sitting in the conference room again together with Jacob McHagen, reviewing the latest incidents – or rather: the _lack_ of incidents. It was getting on their nerves that they had no idea on what was going on at the research complex, and meanwhile; time was running out for them.

"Are we to sit here and do _nothing?!"_ Admiral Henderson followed up, sounding quite frustrated. "The deadline is crawling closer by each minute! The Pentagon's latest ultimatum was quite straightforward: produce results in 36 hours or the project gets shut down! That's 23 hours from now! And we all know what kind of the after-effects we'll get of a shut-down project: a full-scale investigation will be conducted by the congress to see where it went wrong!"

"A dangerous development," assistant Spencer agreed. "The investigators are going to take the opportunity to turn over every rock they can find, and that means that they will find out about the illegal activities we've been doing for the past years… and once they discover how we put the project-funds into our own accounts and the circumstances around the _Auriga_… well…"

"It'll be the _end_ of us!" Henderson finished.

"Which brings us back to do what we _need_ to do," McHagen said. "We _must_ regain control! We _must_ take the research tower back!"

"How do we do that?" General Berger-Hauser asked. "We don't even have the transport bus anymore!"

"We still got the second ambulance on the _Athena!_" McHagen said. "We can send over another team to take back control!"

That made Colonel Benelli lose his temper. "Are you _crazy?_ Everyone you sent over there to try and herd the creatures back into the pens have been _killed!_ What makes you think another team would be more successful?! We'd only sacrifice more men for _nothing!"_

"We hardly even got any more men to send over," the general put in. "We're already running on a skeleton crew pulling double shifts… the rest who are still alive are still in the infirmary and in no shape to get back on duty. We have that woman Ripley to thank for that."

"Well, unlike _you_ I have tried to rectify the situation!" McHagen snapped. "What have you done except sitting here _whining?!_ If you have any other proposals to make, then let's hear them!"

"Can we ask Earth for reinforcements?" Lieutenant Colonel Maziq stupidly asked.

"We've already gone way over budget," Spencer informed the man. "The Pentagon won't give us a penny more, much less any manpower."

"We could call for the emergency procedures…" Maziq suggested.

"That would be to _admit_ our failure!" Spencer almost spat. "And that would result in our project being instantly handed over to the emergency crew, which would result in a thorough investigation, which we want to _avoid!_"

"We may soon not have much of a choice," Benelli said. "The congress is going to hear about this sooner or later anyway, and once they find out how we went behind their backs with this without their approval… well… we _knew_ that the bubble would come to burst eventually."

"Sounds like you guys have dug yourselves into a deep hole you can't get out of?"

Everyone turned to the door from where the tiny voice had come. "Where the hell did _you_ come from?!" McHagen asked in near rage the young child who stood there. "What are you doing here?!"

Newt's face revealed no kind of emotion. It was like nothing concerned her anymore. "I'm here because you had mentioned a deal after you woke me up… does that still stand?"

McHagen crossed his arms in suspicion. "Are you pulling my leg?"

Newt brought out something from her pocket. "You want this, don't you?" In her hand was the compact disc containing all the information about the aliens. She had managed to take it without anyone noticing before she had left, just like Adrienne Kinloch had done before she was hauled over to the other complex. "This is what you wanted from me from the start, isn't it?"

"You didn't want me to have it!" McHagen pointed out.

"I don't care anymore," Newt said, looking strangely resigned. The staff members could see that something unpleasant had happened to her which seemed to have turned her head completely. She was not at all like the resilient child she had been before - it was like she had all but given up on everything.

"You want the codes to this," Newt continued. "I'll give them to you… but I want something in return. The others would never give it to me."

"What others?" Benelli asked her.

"Never mind _that_. Do you want it or not?"

McHagen began to snicker. "I always said that everybody has a price. All right, young lady – how much money do you want?"

That made the girl turn angry. "Don't be a geek! I don't _want_ your _stinking_ money!"

The supreme commander was a little startled by the girl's outburst. He had never got used to the fact that this was not a traditional child. "Well, what do you want then?" he asked instead.

The weird resignation returned to her face. "I want you to put me back where you found me."

"We found you in an icebox?"

"Yes. I want to be put back in the fridge… and I don't _ever _want to be woken up again!"

* * *

In the bowels of the derelict, the rock-like protuberance suddenly burst, making thousands of small tiny pieces fly all over the cargo hold as if those had been sent flying by an explosion. Free of the fossilized shell, that which had been trapped within for unknown numbers of years looked at first glance had somebody been around to witness it to be nothing more but another alien egg, only it was five times as big and bearing the shape of a rugby football.

But it was not an egg. Although the outer leathery texture was similar, it was but a shroud which slowly began to part and unfold. As the large leathery flaps spread outwards, the body of a creature underneath was revealed. It was curled in a fetal position, but now as it was released from the hard shell that had contained it for centuries, it uncoiled its powerful limbs, trailing filaments from its torso of a preserving fluid, slowly seeking support from the surrounding surface of the hold as it began to climb out from the cavity in the wall where it had slept for a long time.

Born from the space jockey above, the creature had once carried the resemblance of its brethren that had roamed over LV-426 for the past years – but within the confinements of the cocoon it had evolved like the moth did, and the result showed that evolution had taken a giant leap ahead. Standing fully erected, the gigantic xenomorph stood almost as tall as a queen – but it looked much bigger than that thanks to the large bat-like wings that stretched out from its back. The body was an amalgam of a queen, (only lacking the extra pair of thoracic limbs,) and of a fairy-tale dragon. The elongated head that was resting on top of an extra-long segmented neck bore a crested crown like the queen, but it was only about half as large and pronounced as the female's – in exchange the spine leaping from neck to tail had a row of sharp blades on top of each segment, like dorsal shark fins. This was not a queen – this was a _king_: an ultimate warrior – the superior protector of a hive.

It knew it had slumbered for a long time – but time meant nothing for the alien king. It only knew that it had been summoned to do its instinctive calling as a warrior to protect its kin. It felt that a hive was nearby…

Spreading its wings, feeling the enormous strength course through its veins, the king lifted up in the air and sailed through the vast cargo hold, searching for a way out to freedom – and to war.


	32. The reactor room

"Why did _I_ have to come along on this?" Ensign Andersson whined from the middle of the small group consisting of four people moving forward in battle position through the complex, being prepared for anything.

"Because Dr. Kinloch specifically asked that I would include you on this little venture," Hicks said from the front. "Don't know what you did to piss her off, but she felt that you needed to see for yourself what you were about to give up to Jacob McHagen for the sake of profit. Her words."

"And you let her talk you into doing it? Why'd you listen to her? She's just a _civilian?!"_

"She's also your tutor as I understand it. As her intern, you are required to tell the difference between right and wrong when it comes to preserving human life. She wants you to learn it the _hard_ way."

"She's not my tutor anymore!" Andersson objected. "She gave up that position when she resigned her commision!"

"Doesn't matter to me, kid," Hicks shot back. "As it happens: I value her insights since she has earned my respect. Besides, her word carries greater weight since she has done her part to get a seat on the escape-vehicles out from this godforsaken complex. You haven't, and that's also why you're here."

"You're saying I need to _contribute_ to your cause to be evacuated?!"

"You got it."

"That's not how the soldier code works! What happened to 'We all go home, or nobody goes home'? What about, 'Leave no man behind'?!"

"In case you haven't noticed, kid, we're _rogue_ soldiers. I'm a man whose been officially dead for two centuries, therefore I don't answer to anybody and I am therefore free to make up my own rules. Besides, I ain't particularly sympathetic to those who are ready to sell out humanity for their own gain."

"You lied earlier," Andersson realized. "You _do_ know what I did to Dr. Kinloch to piss her off!"

"I do know," Hicks admitted. And that made two times he had lied. He had no intention of just leaving the young rookie behind when the time came to get out of there – he would save anybody he could. But the kid needed some incitement to do the right thing, hence the lying.

"Still… I think it would've been better if I served back-up to your woman friend whose heading for the bridge?..."

The female Airman Paige Rogers who had done sentry duty at the main gate and was having the rear position behind Andersson pointed the muzzle of her weapon against the ensign's neck. "You're not going anywhere, boy… except forward," she instructed him.

Galna, whom was having the second position of the group took up the thread. "What would you expect to do at the bridge, anyway? You were in training for medical – you know nothing about preparing a vessel for take-off."

"I'm not supposed to be _here!_" the ensign squealed.

"Neither were we! But we are, so man up boy and stop whining!"

"Stop talking all together!" Hicks suddenly said. "I sense something! One of them is _near! _And coming _closer!_"

It wasn't so strange since the four of them were on their way to the reactor room, which they suspected was the bug-hive. They were bound to encounter xenomorphs on the way, but the tension became tight anyway.

"Now to find out if these armbands really work, then," Galna commented nervously, reaching for his wrist.

"What if they don't?" Andersson piped out.

"Then we're dead," Hicks replied neutrally. "Right, here goes nothing. Power _on!_"

They all pressed their devices, releasing the alien energy accumulated and harnessed from the derelict. There was a strange tingling sensation as the power surrounded them, or was it just anxiety? The four of them were now covered with a weak shimmering blue field. They could see each other, but would the alien approaching be able to see them?

It took a massive discipline for them not to jerk back as a drone suddenly jumped down in front of them, close enough for Hicks to be able to touch it. The behemoth rose to its full height, its horrible features alone sending shivers through the group of humans. Andersson was about to scream, but Paige Rogers put her hand over his mouth to stop him from doing that. Hicks in turn stopped Galna from firing his rifle as he too was almost losing his cool, because it looked like the alien was looking right at them!

For a moment it was a standstill – the humans didn't dare to take any action as it could risk setting the creature off, and the creature itself did not make a move. All was momentarily quiet, the only sound that was heard was the continuous dripping on the floor of the alien's saliva-like substance that was unceasingly flowing from its mouth.

The creature finally let out a low rumble from the depth of its throat together with the distinctive sound of air being inhaled, like aerosols being rushed into nostrils. Did it smell them?

The alien looked first to its right – then it slowly turned its elongated head to the left… then it crouched down and began to move on all fours – _past_ the humans! It was sneaking ahead as it if was following a scent, but it couldn't pinpoint the exact source! Hicks picked up a thought in the back of his mind which he believed came from the creature… to it: there was nothing there. They waited until it had disappeared, following the trace the wrong way, until Hicks let out his breath.

"The shield works! It didn't see us!"

"Goddamn," Paige Rogers said exasperated. "That was the longest minutes in my life! I was afraid that my thumping heart would give away our position!"

"You did good all of you," Hicks returned. "Now when we know that we are invisible to them, we can enter their hive with minimal risk! No chatter from here on. Let's move."

* * *

It was just like Hicks had suspected: here in the warm area of the reactors where the radiating heat from engines evaporated the cooling water, creating a steamy environment… it was indeed here the aliens had set up their nest!

It was a disturbing déjà vu for Hicks. This made the third time he'd entered an alien crèche, but the conditions were too familiar with his first experience from the bowels of the atmosphere processing station of Hadley's Hope. It was basically a metallic network of pipes and conduits that had been covered with copious amounts of the strange resin the xenomorphs produced. Hundred upon hundred strands of webwork were added to the original structure, forming organic-looking intricate chambers and dark tunnels with interior that looked like the inside of a ribcage. The tunnels looked empty, but the corporal knew better… the aliens were without a doubt at home, they were just dormant. Hicks gave a silent signal to his companions to maintain noise discipline, and then they entered the den of monsters.

As they ventured deeper into the maze, they came upon more of the unavoidable familiarity. Here the floor were littered with dozens of empty eggs, with stale carcasses of facehuggers… and victims! Is was here where everyone who had once worked in the research tower at the time the aliens broke confinement were located, entombed within the walls with no regard for human comfort. They were all dead, each one having a ragged hole in the chest where the sternum had been breached from within. It was worse for his companions to see this than it was for Hicks… they had known these people, having worked with them before the disaster. Hicks had it easier as he had been confined in isolation before the creatures had escaped, so he couldn't put names on the poor souls that had met their gruesome fate here. At least it was true for most of them, but there were familiar faces to him as well. He spotted Naavek Felger, dead like the rest of them with the bones of his rib cage bent outwards, his faced creased into a mask of permanent agony from his moment of demise.

"This is a _nightmare!_" Andersson squeaked as he took in the surroundings.

"Then perhaps you understand now?" Hicks said quietly over his shoulder. "Do you still wish to pursue them for money and for fame?"

"I only wish to get out of here!"

"We will – once we've completed our task!"

Since the aliens had remade the reactor room into their own design, it no longer corresponded to the blueprints Hicks had studied before coming here. It took some time before they found the area they wanted, but this was one area they would've preferred not having to enter which they became quite aware of when they arrived. It was like a vast cavernous chamber, and positioned in the center of the 'cave' was the dominating presence of the alien queen. Although he was well aware of her kind, Hicks only knew her from stories. This was the first time he'd gazed upon an alien mother in real life.

The Queen hanged suspended in midair from organic-looking pillar-like protrusions which connected to her back. From her abdomen leaped the gigantic bloated egg sac which consisted of what appeared like pale, semi-translucent skin that hung from the roof by some weblike membranes. At the end of the abdominal container was a fleshy flap that was just releasing an oozing alien egg, coated with gelatinous material that trailed thick filaments from the ovipositor. A worker drone came forward to pick up the new egg and carried it away, leaving free space for the Queen to plant a new one.

The bestial mother looked like she was asleep. Her six limbs were folded into her massive body, her head pointed downwards to her chest which made the giant crown on her head stand upwards being displayed as an enormous shield. Despite his earlier determination, the sight of this monstrosity made Hicks began to falter and reconsider his decision to come in here.

The female Airman looked even more pale than usual beneath the shimmering field that was still surrounding all of them, but still she sounded more composed than what the other two of his team did. "Turn right. The fuel injector couplings are located around the corner past around that console on the left hand," she whispered. This was the reason she had volunteered to come with them. As an officer of the air-force, Paige Rogers had a vast knowledge of flying crafts. Hicks was grateful to have her along.

It was only through the anticipation that their plan would result in killing both the Queen and her terrible offspring that gave the four-man team the motivation to move on – sneaking passed the dormant behemoth and moving towards their target. It was a good thing they were invisible to the xenomorphs, or Hicks was certain that they would've been jumped by now by the drones, just like back inside the atmosphere processor station at Hadley's Hope.

The fuel injector couplings by the engine regulator were sealed in a steel compartment with a padlock. It had not befallen Hicks' mind that they might require keys for the task. He was glad though that he had thought of bringing portable cutting torches – he had made it standard equipment to carry as you never knew when you had to reinforce a barrier the aliens might attempt to break through. He set Galna to the task of cutting the lock while he, Paige Rogers, and Ensign Andersson stood lookout. Hicks winced as the heavy padlock fell to the deck with a resonating 'clang', thinking that the noise would be enough to rouse the aliens' attention. But so far, no movement.

The cover of the compartment did not rest on any hinges, you just lifted it off. During transport it was secured in a special pocket by the side as per safety regulation, but that was something they would not bother with in this case. Galna simply put it away by his closest choice, not caring where it would end up once they set the rocket up in the air.

"The main line to the fuel tanks is over there," Rogers said, indicating to a corner a few meters away opposite of the injector couplings. Hicks was looking at another door, man-sized this time, with another lock. They had to use the cutting torch again. When they got the other door open, they found a large drum inside, on which a thick, armored cable was coiled around. Above it was a computer screen. It required all four people to turn the heavy-set drum and pulling the almost equally heavy hose to make it uncoil. With combined manpower they dragged the whole thing over the floor, trailing it like it was a big anaconda snake. To Hicks' chagrin, the effort resulted in even more noise, but there was no way to escape it. Along the way as they pulled they noted several strongpoints on the structure of the deck where the hose was to be anchored and secured, but they figured they didn't need to be that thorough.

They were all tired and sweaty when they finally got the end of the armored hose to the opposite side where the injector couplings were – that's when Hicks saw that the outer housing of the cable they were dragging was just an armored wrapper around a multiple set of hoses and cables within. Each was to be connected to their own port within the box of couplings. Fortunately they were all color-tagged, so they didn't have to stop to think if they were doing it the right way. He set Galna and Andersson to make the plug-ins: Galna because he volunteered to do it, and Andersson because Hicks knew that the young ensign needed to be distracted from the nightmare environment that was continuing to get on the rookie's nerves. This was no time for somebody to crack. Meanwhile as the two did the work, Hicks and Rogers stood guard.

There was no movement – yet – but there was an uncomfortable feeling suddenly exploding in the back of Hicks' mind. A sensation that was familiar to him from an earlier experience and with a sense of foreboding he moved silently around the corner, gazing over at the monstrous form of the alien Queen.

She was awake!

Hicks knew now that he had made a grave mistake! He shouldn't have taken charge of this mission! He never considered bringing Ripley in here as he knew that the close proximity to the xenomorphs might give her alter ego Raksha the strength to break her bounds and take over the woman's mind – but Hicks should never have gone in here either.

That wasn't just _a_ Queen: it was _the_ Queen – the Queen that had come from _him!_ Because of Hicks' acute ability to pick up the thought-patterns of the xenomorphs, a 'gift' he had gained when Bishop had injected the 'royal jelly' into his body, he had been able to touch the unborn Queen's mind – and _she_ had in turn been able to touch _his! _That meant they had a psychic bond, which means that the Queen would _know_ when he was near! Hicks' own presence had stirred her awake! He swore silently to himself. This was what Newt had been afraid of and had tried to warn him: you _couldn't_ fool the aliens! He should have _listened_ to her!

The Queen was looking around, hissing - and Hicks could now feel her thoughts in the back of his mind. _In the lower part of your brainstem you have the reticular formation. It's the part of your brain that determines alertness, your perception of things. It is not unlikely that the royal jelly, which purpose is to alter the original genetic make-up of the embryo, got into your bloodstream and travelled to your brain and, shall we say: enhanced the reticular formation to be receptive to the xenomorph's way of communication._ That's what Bishop had said which described this sensation. It wasn't words he heard: the aliens had no linguistic form of an alphabetic exchange. It was more like feelings, mental pulses… it was Hicks' own mind that translated these pulses into comprehensible sentences.

\- _I know you're here!_

Hicks remained still on his spot, practicing methods to keep his own mind empty, so that he would not give away his position to the monster.

The Queen let out a snarl. _– Where are you?! You may be concealing yourself, but you can't stay hidden forever!_

"Corporal?" the woman addressed him. "Are you all right?"

"All is fine, Airman. Keep on your toes." Hicks hated having to lie, but he needed the others to focus on their respective tasks. He couldn't tell them that everything was far from fine, because it no longer was just the queen who was looking for them – she had now roused her children as well! From hidden pockets in the crusted walls, and from darkened corners behind pillars and consoles, the warriors of the hive began to crawl out, each one of them searching for the intruders!

– _Soft preys!_

– _Danger to the hive! _

– _Where are they? _

– _Find! Kill! _

– _Defend the hive! Defend the Queen! _

– _Find the soft prey!_

Hicks' head began to throb from all of those impulses smashing into the lower part of his brainstem. It was like numerous screams in his mind, while on the outside his ears picked up no sounds at all. But he could feel how the air vibrated from the new commotion. The hive was coming alive.

"Movement!" the Airman blurted out, drawing the attention of the other two.

"Steady!" Hicks commanded. "Don't panic! Remember: they can't see us while we're carrying these active armbands!"

"How long are they good for?" Rogers asked. A damn valid question! Hicks had not asked Bishop for that detail.

"I'm not planning to stick around for any longer than necessary to find out. We'll make good of it while we got them. How's it coming with the injector lines?"

"We're done!" Galna reported as he twisted the last connection into place.

"Good. Then let's open the valve to apply the fuel to the engines and get out of here!"

They quickly went over to the screen above the drum that was within the locker. It was a touchscreen. Hicks tapped it and it automatically came to life, displaying alternatives of action. He tapped the command for opening the valve of the fuel-line. To his dismay, the reply came back with the request of a prompt-code for authorization. A code Hicks did not have, and neither did Paige Rogers or anybody else of them! This was a knowledge reserved only for the top commanders of the expedition. Hicks had no choice but to break radio-silence.

"Bishop! Do you copy?" he spoke into the radio attached to the side of his helmet. The android's disembodied voice came back, sounding a little nonchalant.

"- Hmm? I'm a little busy right now, Hicks."

"We're _all_ busy!" the corporal snapped in reply. His synthetic friend had really developed a weird character ever since all that ever remained of his original body was destroyed. "Listen! I need you to hack into the fuel injector program and slice the code to unlock the valves for the rocket fuel!"

"- Oh, that! Input command: 3-4-2 Alpha Omega-1."

"You already _had_ the code and you didn't _tell_ us before we went out?!"

"- Sorry. I guess it slipped my mind."

"A lot of things seems to slip your mind, right now! What's going on with you?"

"- Sorry, Hicks, can't talk right now. Busy, busy. Good luck." The radio went dead. Hicks had to summon all of his self-control to not scream into the mouthpiece. It would've been a wasted action anyway. Instead he input the code on the touchscreen and was rewarded with the message that the fuel was now rushing into the engines. If everything went to plan, Ripley would at this moment be standing by at the helm on the bridge and receive that message. It was up to her now to prepare the rocket for take-off. Hicks' own task was now done.

"Let's get out of here," he told his team. There was no objection coming from any of the others.

Galna was about to fall in behind the line to take up the rear position, when suddenly a hand shot out and grabbed his left wrist. Galna exclaimed a startled shout, attracting the attention of the others. Hicks expected to see Galna in the clutches of a xenomorph, which should be impossible since he was cloaked from their sights with the energy field… but the hand that was desperately holding on the soldier's arm was human. It belonged to a figure that was clued to the wall, covered with the resinous material that was everywhere.

"Help me!" the figure croaked. It was Forster, the man that had disappeared after dropping Ripley off at the other complex.

"Jesus, man…" Galna gasped, recognizing his brother in arms.

"Help me!" Forster repeated with a slur.

"Dude, let go of my arm!" The trapped man was holding on to the other's left wrist in a tight death-grip, clutching on to the armband that was emitting the protective energy field.

"Get me out of here!"

There was no way to save this man – all signs revealed the inevitable. Considering the time that had elapsed since Forster vanished, the aliens have had plenty of opportunity to do their thing to him. And they had – the evidence of that lay on the floor beneath the cocooned soldier. The carcass of a facehugger lay there. There was no doubt in Hicks' mind that Forster had one of those critters inside of him. The others knew this too.

"I'm sorry, man…" Galna gulped. "There's nothing we can do for you! I… Look, you're going to have to let go!"

But Forster's grip tightened. "You can't just _leave_ me here!"

"We can't just leave him!" Paige Rogers passed to Hicks. "It goes against our code!"

"He's beyond help," Hicks returned, feeling the same dismay and helplessness he felt when he had to shoot the little midget mechanic Fixer in the head. He hated the thought of having to do so again, but there was no alternative. He raised his weapon. "It'll be faster… easier for you."

The doomed man's panic increased. "You can't do this!" he cried. "I want to live!" His desperate cry made Hicks hesitate. This was not at all like when he had to kill Fixer. The dwarf had known his fate and accepted it – even asked for it rather than being man-handled by the aliens. But Forster had gone beyond reasoning – he couldn't grasp the fact that he was going to die. And Hicks couldn't just kill him in cold blood. The other needed to understand…

"Let go of my arm, dude!" Galna spat, wriggling in an attempt to get away. The young ensign Andersson just stood in the back being pale in his face, being at a total loss of what to do. Forster began to scream loudly in protest.

"_Get me out of here!"_

"Quiet! You're attracting the monsters to our position!"

"AAAAAAAARRRRRGHHH!"

There were quite many things happening at once from that point. Forster's grip tightened so hard around Galna's wrist that he feared that his bones would be crushed. In a desperate tug, he wrenched himself free – but he only managed to do it because the armband he carried came loose. Galna got his arm free, but the armband emitting the protective field was still clutched in Forster's hand. Galna was now visible to the residents of the hive.

\- _**There!**_ Hicks could hear the triumphant roar of the queen hit the back of his mind.

Meanwhile Forster kept screaming – but it was no longer in a protest. He was writhing in agony as his chest began to bulge. And in the next second his torso exploded in blood and gore as the creature within him broke out into freedom in a messy birth. For a moment the four humans could only stand in horror with their eyes transfixed on the newly emerged xenomorph that was hissing viciously while working to wriggle free from the prison of the dead man's ribcage.

The air then vibrated from the resonating echo of a crack that sounded like a whip slapping, and Galna was suddenly knocked sideways off his feet. As he landed on his back, he was clawing at his face and he tried to scream. But it was only a muffled cry as his head had been enwrapped with a living specimen of the facehugger, totally covering his eyes, nose, and mouth.

Ensign Andersson's eyes darted back and forth between Galna and the body of Forster, both that had fallen victim to the xenomorphs and both that were currently showing what kind of fate the monsters brought to those who were captured by them. The ensign even got a glimpse of the final incarnation of the creature in the midst of it all; one just showed up right beside the still wriggling form of the facehugged soldier. Before anybody could react, Galna disappeared, his body instantly being pulled into the shadows by the behemoth and he was gone. But instead in his place, more aliens emerged from around the dark corners, dozens of them approaching the group of remaining humans.

Ensign Andersson snapped, the panic and terror of the monsters completely overwhelming him. He screamed, raised his rifle and began to spray everything that moved around him with bullets, including against those of his own species. Hicks and Rogers barely had time to hurl themselves out of the way before the line of fire strafed over their position.

"_Andersson! Cease fire!"_ Hicks tried to yell at the rookie over the noise of gunfire. But the young ensign didn't hear him – he was too far gone.

"Goddammit! You'll only attract the creatures instead of driving them away!" It was true. Despite the apparent danger to their own lives, the aliens advanced towards the spot of empty air to their perspective, to the source of the thunder and lightning. Their born instincts were to protect the colony no matter what, even if it killed them. They couldn't see the soldier, but they knew something was there. In the core of their foggy minds, they recalled a memory from their distant past, from the time of the space jockeys. That race had created a field they couldn't see through, and the idea that the soft prey of this planet had somehow utilized this energy for their own purpose was not something they discarded. Andersson, who was lost in his own nightmare, continued to blast away at the creatures as soon as they came too close. It seemed like a fool's miracle that none of the acid from the bleeding creatures had hit him, but it all had to do with physics. The kinetic energies from the shells impacting on the aliens' hard chitinous hides were throwing them all backwards with such force that the spraying acid missed the young green shirt. But that luck was about to run out.

Andersson was invisible to them, but the creatures attacked anyway. They lashed blindly with their scorpion tails at the space where the muzzle fire was originating from – each time they attempted a hit, Andersson retaliated by hitting them in turn with his rifle, moving around so that he wouldn't remain on one spot, screaming his lungs out as he was in a state of total panic. All he wanted was to get out of there, therefore he was advancing towards the exit. But another concealed warrior was waiting for its opportunity, watching the light of the blaster fire coming past it. As soon as the light was close enough, the alien lashed out with its hand. The steel-like sharp claws raked something solid – not enough to stop whatever it was it couldn't see, but enough to seal Andersson's doom. The claws had scratched him over his left arm, over the wrist.

Andersson didn't really register that he had been cut, all he saw was another alien which he blasted away. But he didn't see what the alien had done to his protective wristband generator until it was too late. The grown cap sealing the energy within had been ruptured, and the white android fluid that served as both insulative and conductive compound harnessing the power spilled out. The young rookie didn't notice any of this, until it became too apparent that the field surrounding him began to oscillate. No longer contained, the alien power collected from the derelict began to stream out in a more concentrated form with an uncontrollable fury. Tendrils of energy began to crawl around the ensign, attaching to his armor that worked as a conductor, quickly heating the protective plates up and turning his uniform into a man-worn oven.

Screaming with panic of a different character now, Andersson tried to rid himself of the ruined armband, but the self-locking metallic strap had fused together. It wasn't just the armor plates that was charging up now, it was his own body as well. His hair began to bristle under his helmet as he fumbled with the armband, and the acrid smell of seared flesh began to fill the chamber. The youth was being grilled alive. The aliens could see him now, but they didn't attack. They stood aside, watching with what hit Hicks was a feeling that was equivalent to curiosity.

The charge had now built up so high that Andersson's hair caught fire. Flares of blueish light burst forth from his eyes and mouth, and crackles of energy shot out from his rigid, outstretched fingers. Hicks wanted to turn away, but he couldn't. Neither could he block out the terrible cry of agony from the ensign's death rattle. He recalled something Bishop had said: _The space jockey's people has created a power-source that seeks to multiply itself if not contained. The energy has the ability to consume matter and convert those into more energy until it gets tremendously overloaded._ That was what was happening now!

There were suddenly so many things happening at once that Hicks barely was able to register it all. It was like somebody just fired off a big cannon, both in sound and effects. Andersson disappeared in a cloud of white fire that was so bright that the two remaining soldiers were blinded. At the same time the ensign's super-overheated armor burst, sending a hailstorm of drops of melted metal through the entire chamber. Several alien drones as well as some eggs were perforated by those heated projectiles, wounding them severely. By sheer miracle, as both Hicks and Rogers were instinctively ducking towards the floor, they managed to position their armored bodies in a deflective angle, making the deadly projectiles ricochet off those. But the impacts still knocked them to the deck. What Hicks didn't see was that the massive charge of energy then made a jump, leaving the source from which it had come and sought another conductor to escape into the ground. It was like an arch of lightning. It made such an explosive sound that it also deafened the ones who was too close to it.

It was suddenly over, and everything just quieted down. Andersson was gone – replaced by a crumpled, blackened form that bore no resemblance to the life that had once been there. But the stench was still present though, the smell of burnt human flesh. The two remaining soldiers that had witnessed the ensign's death almost retched as their nostrils picked the scent up.

The silence didn't last long. The queen suddenly let out a shrilly bellow, and she trashed around on the biological supporters she was hanging suspended over the floor from. And then her children began to howl as well.

"What's the matter with them?" Rogers asked, still shaken from the two deaths she had witnessed. The two were hunching under a console, working to collect themselves.

"She's enraged," Hicks whispered, his voice trembling both from Andersson's death and from the pressure he was feeling in the back of his brain. "From her perspective, it's like we just planted a suicide bomber right in the middle of their home, endangering her brood. It's like an attack…"

Suddenly all of the alien warriors rushed off, like if they were chased by the devil himself. But they weren't running towards Hicks' and Rogers' position… they were heading towards the main exit.

"…and she will _respond_ as such!" Hicks continued, dread gripping his spine. "She has just declared _war!_"

"Against who?"

"_Us!_ She just sent her children to attack our _safehouse!_ And when they're through with that, they're going to charge against the other complex! It's an Armageddon! It won't matter how many of her drones will die – they won't stop for anything until we humans are all _dead!_"


	33. The bargain between the queens

Ripley was standing alone on the bridge of the rocket, feeling both impatient and misplaced. She should be somewhere else! Sure, preparing the rocket for blast-off was an important task to the plan, but it could be done without her! She had already finished setting the rocket to take off by the input of a command – it had been such an easy task that she had sent the soldiers that had accompanied her there away again as she didn't need them. Those soldiers had made no objections to her request to just leave her on the bridge - it wasn't only for the fact that they didn't trust her as she was an outsider and a pirate, but she did give them all the creeps with her strange personality issues. Therefore they were only happy to be out of Ripley's hair as she in turn was happy to not have them around. But now when she was alone, she was really feeling the irritating anxiety and restlessness overwhelm her. She was only waiting for the final word – but she couldn't help to wonder why she did this. Ripley's own priorities had changed: she came back to this wretched planet to eradicate the last of the aliens… well, that plan was proceeding with or without her participation. She was back feeling that she wanted nothing more to do with the xenomorphs, just like after the _Nostromo_. She had only one priority now, and that was Newt. Ripley should be over at the other complex instead of here… she should be with the child, to care for her and protect her… and to get her off this accursed planet! To _hell_ with the aliens – she was prepared to let them have this world as long as they would have nothing more to do with her life! This was not really her problem, and never should have been. She told as much to that creep of a junior executive Carter Burke two-hundred years ago. It was the Company that had forced her into this – but the Company was dead and buried. Why did she keep bother?

_Because it was all I had!_ That was the truth before, but that no longer applied. The circumstances were different now: she was alive against all odds and so was the child. Newt was the only thing that was important to her now. Without the girl, Ripley would be nothing. She never had a plan for what she was going to do after the aliens had been eradicated – in truth: she had actually considered suicide. Her life as a clone was no life… she was not only two-hundred years after her time, but two-hundred and sixty. What was she going to do here once the aliens were gone? Raising the girl was the sole reason she had to go on living. But the child didn't trust the adult right now… perhaps even never would again. Still Ripley loved the child, and no matter what the young felt for her, the adult would do anything to keep the little one safe. Absolutely anything!

_Then why don't you?_ she asked herself. She was wasting precious _time_ here! Ripley was just about to leave when her head was hit by an emotional burst of a xenomorphic origin. Not from her alter-ego Raksha, but from the other queen that resided within this complex. Something was going on!

As Ripley listened, an ability she possessed ever since her resurrection, she was able to decipher the rising rage from the xenomorphs, and determine that the original plan had gone south. The aliens were on the rampage, intent to destroy everything that was a threat to them. That meant all the humans here, and all the humans in the other complex! _Including Newt!_ There was no way Ripley would just stand by and let that happen! She needed to take action! She tapped the communicator she had over her ear.

"Bishop! Do you read?"

There was no reply from the android, she only got static. Whatever the synthetic was doing, he was not on the line. Ripley changed the channel.

"Dr. Kinloch! Do you copy?"

This time there was a reply. "- I'm here. What's up? I thought we were going to maintain radio silence until…"

"Never mind that shit and listen to me! You need to evacuate immediately! The aliens are headed your way!"

"- _What?_ What do you _mean?_ H-how many of them?"

"_All_ of them!"

"- _All?_ B-but we've held out so far! Surely they can't get in now and…?"

"This is not a trial and error-run, Doctor! They're _coming_ for you, and this time they won't stop until they've vanquished every last one of you!"

"- But how can you be sure?"

"Don't ask me how!" Ripley snapped into the mike. "Just _do_ as I say! Leave everything behind that's not vital to your survival and get out of there _now!_ Take only the living! That includes the cat! Get down to the garage and lock yourself in inside the vehicles! We're getting out of here as soon as I get there!"

"- But what about the _plan?_" the doctor persisted. "- What of Hicks and his team?"

"I have no idea if he's still alive," Ripley confessed. "But whatever his condition is: I know that his first priority would be your survival before himself! Therefore you should get going! And don't forget the cat! Out!"

She disconnected the line. No, they had better not forget about Jones. It wasn't just because the feline was part of her past as he used to be her pet… it was more because he was Newt's pet now – and Newt would _never _forgive the adults if the cat was abandoned. The child's welfare and happiness was Ripley's top priority – and it was that drive that was going to make her take a new action! She had just come up with a new plan – but it would require one enormous sacrifice! But Ripley was prepared to do whatever it took to make sure that the aliens would never touch the child again! Nothing else mattered!

* * *

There were some mixed hesitant reactions coming from the last residents of the safehouse when Adrienne Kinloch hit the alarm button and told everybody that they had to evacuate. Since the order had been given by Ripley and issued through another, the remaining soldiers weren't too keen on following it since Adrienne was just a civilian, and Ripley was an outsider whom only recently had come into their midst. They would much rather wait for the word from Corporal Hicks. But Adrienne had no intention of sticking around, and when it became clear to the rest that the doctor was going to leave with or without the others, they figured that she knew something they didn't. It was better to play it safe rather than being sitting ducks if the aliens really were attacking, so they all did a quick check on their weapons before they went out. Adrienne had no weapon… as a doctor, she had never liked guns even though she had grown up in a military employed family. She had a task of her own.

When Hicks had gone to the laboratories to get the ore-samples for building the armbands, he had brought those to the safehouse in a carriable storage box that was made to storage and transport many kinds of samples within a protective environment, bio- and hard-substance matter alike. The box was designed to meet any kind of environment the sample in question needed to remain sturdy and fresh. It would now serve perfectly as a transport box for the cat. She found the orange tom on the bed in Hicks private quarters, looking annoyed. He had not particularly enjoyed being sealed in there, not having been allowed to go out. Additionally to the matter, he had left some not-very-pleasant evidence of his incarceration, since no one had provided the animal with a litter box. Adrienne came to the conclusion that the mess didn't matter – these quarters were not to be used again as things looked now.

Jones looked even more annoyed when the woman put down the box and opened the lid. "Come on, in the box." She reached for the cat, but it hissed in protest. "Don't fuss!" she told it sternly. "You don't want to be left here!" It was only because the smart cat knew that this woman was considered a friend to his human that he made no big fight of being put in the box, save for a soft growl. Had it been someone who wasn't a friend of Newt's, he would've done the same to him as he'd done to the other fiend who had dared to invade their privacy earlier.

Adrienne had the cat she was asked to collect. The instructions were to save the living and leave behind everything that wasn't vital to their survival – but there was one item Adrienne absolutely did not want to abandon: the dermal regenerator was too valuable a piece of equipment. But how was she to carry that when she had to carry the box with the cat? She looked around, and got a brainstorm. She would have to plead a bargain she usually would not be so interested in doing, but sometimes the situations made some principals necessary to be cast aside.

"Johner!" she called out to the scarred pirate. "We need to bring the dermal regenerator with us! You're not carrying anything besides your rifle, you take it!"

"Why would I?" Johner instantly objected. "What's in it for me?"

Adrienne was prepared for the hungry look the pirate gave her. Despicable man! Like most men she had met, he was obviously only interested in her bodily qualities, and he thought he could bargain for a go with that. But Adrienne had another bargaining chip in mind, one she didn't expect him to be so quick to turn down.

"The device can't replace lost body parts, but it can repair faulty healed skin. With it I can fix that scar on your face!"

Johner looked shocked. "You can do that?! You'd do it?!"

She gave him a disgusted look. "Believe me, I wouldn't do it out of the goodness of my heart as I think that you are nothing more than a primitive dinosaur – But I'd do it for the sake of cooperation! You keep your end of the bargain and get the device safely with us and I will keep up mine."

"Just so you know it, doctor," Johner half snarled as he grabbed the equipment. "If I find that you are in fact double-crossing me… I ain't always known for my charms!"

"I just bet you aren't…"

The more troublesome load they had to drag along was Zack Ryan, but it was all due to the fact that he was blind and a bit of an emotional wreck. "I don't want to die… I don't want to die…" he whined repeatedly as two soldiers dragged him along, reluctantly. No one was happy having to risk their own hides getting the runt to safety.

It became a dramatic moment as they were about to leave the premises – when they got to the main entrance through which they always came and went, they could hear the pounding and feel the vibrations of a massive force attacking the door. The xenomorphs were right outside the gate fully intent to get in. The soldiers who had been in doubts earlier when Adrienne had urged everybody that they needed to leave now became convinced of the seriousness of the situation. They were all equipped with the armband shields, and they all simultaneously activated the anti-alien cloaking fields, shrouding themselves with the energy. Adrienne hugged the box containing the cat closely to her chest to allow the extraterrestrial power to extend its field around it as well. Just in time too, as the door gave up. The heavy barrier was knocked out of its grooves and it slammed to the floor with an ear-deafening crash and through the opening came a whole flock of aliens swarming into the former safe house. There was a collective gasp coming from everybody as the creatures crawled inside – many of them raising their weapons to meet the nightmarish wave. But no monster attacked the humans – the aliens couldn't see them when the cloak was activated! They just rushed by, seeking out the center of the safehouse where they expected to find their prey.

No one present got the idea that they would remain behind to see the reactions of the xenomorphs when those found the premises to be deserted – everybody just wanted to get as far away from the monsters as possible, so they ran. The instructions were to head for the garage and seal themselves inside the cars parked there. There the humans would wait until Ripley and/or Hicks and his team came back so that they all could leave. But Adrienne couldn't help to wonder if they would be waiting in vain. They had absolutely no idea what had happened to Hicks, or if he even was still alive.

* * *

Hicks was still alive, and so was the female Airman, Paige Rogers. For how much longer was another question. The two survivors had found that they were trapped, as the aliens had shown a bit of an ingenuity. There were only a handful left after the others had rushed out, but those that remained were waiting out of sight in the shadows by the only entrance there was into the reactor room, and thanks to the queen they knew that Hicks was still in there, even if they couldn't see him. But they knew enough about humans - invisible or not, the xenomorphs knew that their prey lacked the ability to fly or crawl along the ceilings like they could. The prey's only way to move along was solely by foot, and if the prey attempted to do that, the aliens would locate them. On the floor leading to the only exit, the aliens had sprayed their own secreted resin all over the deck like a carpet that they used to build the hive with. As it was freshly applied, it was quite sticky like glue – if Hicks or Rogers tried to cross over that puddle, their soles would get stuck and their footprints would give away their position! The aliens could wait for as long as they needed: they were quite a patient species – Hicks and Rogers did not have that luxury. The corporal could tell that they had very little time as their own armbands were beginning to fluctuate. The field was still surrounding them, but they were getting low on power – they had been used for too long. Once the armbands went out, it would be the end of them.

Paige Rogers looked lamentably over at the glue-covered floor. "Those things are more intelligent than I thought."

"We tend to think of them as dumb animals," Hicks concurred. "But they're as devious as they are deadly."

"Is there no other way out of here?"

"None! And even if there were, they are probably covering those exits as well."

Hicks could feel an external thought-impulse hit the back of his mind. The alien Queen was addressing him. _– There's nowhere to run! Why don't you just come out and make it easier on yourself? We can wait forever! We are good at waiting!_

Rogers looked around, trying to make out any sort of hostile shape in the shadows, squinting to see where the aliens were laying in waiting for them to show up. The problem was that with this environment, every shadow looked hostile. She couldn't tell which of the corners it was that concealed a live threat. The creatures were experts in blending in with the surroundings of their own making. "If we can pinpoint the drones lying in wait for us by using our infra-red," she suggested. "Take out each one with a sniper blast while we're still invisible to them…"

"I appreciate your strategic thinking, but unfortunately those things don't show on infra-red."

"They can't see us, but neither can we see them!" She sighed at the apparent hopelessness. "If you don't mind, Corporal, I don't like the idea of just sitting here waiting for the field to give out." She wasn't even comfortable with the armband shield anymore after having witnessed what had happened to Andersson. "I vote for that we reveal ourselves and take out as many as we can before they get to us. I rather go out fighting!"

"They're not looking to kill us in battle," Hicks pointed out. "You saw Forster and then Galna…"

"We got grenades… let those finish the job!"

_Just like with Vasquez and Gorman_, Hicks thought gloomily, remembering his team-mates from the first time they had set down on this accursed planet. He had not seen them make the decision to blow themselves up, but Hicks knew that that was how the hard-core Vasquez would have preferred to go out when everything else was lost. She always had been the master of her own fate in any way she could. Obviously it was his turn now.

"Make every shot count," he told her. "And if one of us gets attacked by a facehugger…"

"…shoot the other!" Rogers finished.

"Believe me, we would be doing the other a big favor." But he felt a little bad in his stomach as he said that. Maybe he should locate Galna and do that promise to him before he himself went down. They both stood ready, preparing to shut off the field and reveal themselves.

"One… two… thr…"

Hicks got interrupted as a new commotion attracted his attention. The two of them couldn't get to the exit – but somebody was coming in towards _them_ from that direction on the other side of the 'carpet' of resinous glue, clamping loudly on the deck in determined strides!

Ripley!

She came in carrying a rifle and with a determined expression on her face, as if totally focused and not caring at all for the danger she was exposing herself to. And she _was_ exposed! She was carrying an armband of her own – but it was _not_ activated. She was completely visible to the aliens.

Ripley reached the 'carpet' of glue – she pointed her weapon towards it and pressed a switch. A flame came to life at the muzzle. It wasn't a rifle, it was a flamethrower. Where the woman had got that from, Hicks had no idea – but she must've picked it up from a cache somewhere on her way down here from the bridge. It was standard equipment for a science station in case of a viral breakout – the flamethrowers were used to sterilize contaminated areas. Hicks' own scavengers hadn't been able to capture all of the valuable equipment after the alien break-out, so there were bound to be some stuff left somewhere.

With a cold face, Ripley sprayed the 'carpet' of the sticky resin with a blazing hot stream of fire, partially carbonizing the material and partially clearing a path through the puddle by melting the glue-like stuff away. It was like walking over hot coals under the soles of her feet as she walked across the path she had cleared, but Ripley didn't notice it. Her attention was shifted elsewhere.

The aliens laying waiting in the shadows above were aware of her presence, and they moved in to capture her. But Ripley stared intently on the approaching creatures, and then she spoke with a commanding voice: "STOP!"

To Hicks' and Roger's utter astonishment, the aliens complied. The female Airman had no idea how this could be, but the corporal did. He had heard it: Ripley had not spoken with one, but with _two_ voices: one audible – and one from her mind. The woman had the same ability as he did: to communicate with the aliens from the back of the mind. While Hicks had gained this ability when the aliens' royal jelly had gotten into his bloodstream and affected his brain, Ripley had gained hers from the cloning process that had blended her with the queen she had carried. And it was the part of the queen within her that made the aliens listen.

"_Stay!_" Ripley now commanded them. Hicks could feel the confusion coming from the drones. They had rejected this woman before as she was impure to them – but despite that, she still carried the royal authority of a queen and that made them hesitant. Their foremost response was to obey the command of a queen… they had no choice in the matter but to do so as it was in their genes. Had Ripley given them the opportunity, they would eventually shake out of their stupor, but the woman wasted no time. She walked further in the reactor room, towards the soldiers' position.

"Ripley, what are you _doing_ here?" Hicks began to say. "You can't be here! This close to the hive will affect you…"

But the woman wasn't listening – instead she strode right past Hicks and Rogers as if she didn't see them. But Hicks knew that she could indeed see them… although half-alien, she still had the spectrum of visibility of a human in her eyes that could see through the stealth-field. Hicks was angered of her ignorant attitude, but kept quiet as he watched where she was going. Ripley was walking directly towards the actual queen!

Ripley stopped before the gigantic behemoth, keeping her flamethrower away – and then she spoke to the queen, not with her mouth, but with her mind. Hicks listened to every word.

_I've come to bargain!_ Ripley told the other. The queen's reply was a clear rebuke.

– _You've come to __**die! **_the creature snarled, twitching in rage. With an unseen signal, the queen commanded her drones to move in for the kill. The alien drones advanced from the shadows. But Ripley was prepared for this – she had been in this situation before. She fired off a burst of her flamethrower above the cusps of the sealed alien eggs.

_Tell your children to back away, or the next time I will lower my aim!_

The queen twitched in fury again, recognizing the danger this intruder presented. But as the woman had anticipated, the creature would not risk harm coming to her unborn young. She ordered the drones to back off.

– _You'll __**die**__ for this, mammal!_

_You're the one who's going to die if you don't listen to what I have to say! You and your children!_

_– You __**dare**__ to threaten __**me?!**_

_This is not a threat! There's a plot to kill you. There are soldiers in here working to set it in motion even now._

Hicks mouth fell. What was she doing?! Was she going to spill their plans to the enemy?!

The queen growled. _– Don't speak to me as if I am a fool! I **know** about them! They will not succeed! They will die and so will you!_

_Don't be so quick with dismissing me as an inconsequential nuisance, _Ripley warned the queen. _Your kind has found me to be not so easily disposable! I've dealt with you before and survived._

The queen snorted. _– You speak lies! I don't know you from before!_

The queen spoke the truth. There was one very important thing to remember about the alien species: they all had genetically passed down memories from their previous generations. But unlike Raksha, the queen Ripley had carried and been blended with, _this_ queen she was currently speaking with was not an offspring from the previous mother of the crèche that had infested Hadley's Hope. This queen had no memories of the hive that had obliterated Newt's people as she had originally come from the last of the eggs that had been stored on the derelict. The xenomorphs had a hive mind: their experiences could be shared between the drones – but they could _not_ be shared with the eggs! As the facehuggers were single-minded with one sole purpose in life, they could not take in any important information a drone is required to share with its kin. A facehugger and the embryo it carried would be gifted with all the memories the queen had, passed down to them up until the moment the egg was laid - but from there the parasite would remain completely dormant until the time came when it detected a face it could latch on to. It would learn of nothing else during the time in between.

Since this queen was of a different branch from the ones Ripley had defeated in the past, it knew nothing of the woman's escapades. But Ripley had every intention to change that.

_Take a good look at me!_ the human encouraged the alien.

The xenomorph queen did - but not in the ways a human would. The aliens had other deeper methods of evaluation of their prey, in ways humans would never comprehend – and what she saw made her confused. She did see a mammal… but she also saw the genes of her own kind in an unnatural blend-work. Those shouldn't be there, but they were.

– _Who are you?_ the queen demanded.

_To you and your kind I am your __**nemesis!**_ Ripley said. _Allow me to show you! Open your mind to me! Open your mind!_

The xenomorph did, and so did the woman. And then Ripley showed her everything. Ripley shared with the queen her first encounter with the species, 260 years ago. She showed how a single drone had picked off the crew of the _Nostromo_ and had started preparations for a crèche – but had in the end failed when Ripley destroyed the ship, and blew the creature out of the airlock to incinerate it with the afterburners.

Ripley didn't stop. She then showed the second encounter… for this she tapped into the memories Raksha had brought with her, showing the powerful hive the first queen had created. But the comfortable steaming warmth of the crèche turned into chaos, with warriors screaming and dying. And fire. And one human, standing firm, holding her own young in her arms. The _same_ woman! Causing death and destruction to the crèche.

The hive was destroyed. The queen (this one's sister) had followed the escaping humans to take revenge. A battle. The queen lost and was expelled into space. More chaos. The alien outbreak on the prison planet. The defeat of the drone. A queen larva within the human. But it was defeated _again_, killed by fire!

A jumble. The awakening and the unnatural birth not so long ago on a ship. A new crèche made. But the human was _still_ there – and in the end, destruction. The human emerging from the chaos of fire unscathed – because _she_ was the fire! The chaos! The _nemesis_ of the species!

The queen howled in rage. She was experiencing a feeling she was not used to: she was _shaken! _Troubled. She did not want to believe what she had just learned. She was the queen of a superior race! The idea of this puny mammal causing so much death and destruction to her kind was ludicrous - but she could not deny what kind of creature it was who stood firm before her. She was an amalgam of a human _and_ a queen of her kind! It was the _other_ queen (her niece) that she believed. Their kind did not know lies – only the truth.

– _You are a __**chaos-bringer!**__ A destroyer of crèches! _

_Old habits are hard to break. _Ripley mocked the queen. In her mind she expressed cockiness as she communicated with the alien – but in reality she was beginning to get some real problems. Standing right in the middle of the hive she was experiencing how her own alien physiology was wreaking havoc with her bodily functions that was partly human. Her nose was bleeding, and a vein in her temple was swelling. But she ignored it as best as she could. She wouldn't let it affect her until she was done.

_Unless you want me to pick up my practice with destroying your kind, you had better listen to my proposal!_

A low rumble coming from the depths of the queen's throat resonated through the otherwise quiet chamber. But the creature made no hostile movements.

– _Speak! _the queen relented.

_You can __**have**__ this planet! _Ripley unexpectedly said. _I'm prepared to leave you alone! _

– _What do __**you**__ seek in return? _the queen asked suspiciously.

_The same I ventured into the first hive for!_ Now Ripley sent a mental image to the other: her freshest memory of Newt. _Right now this girl is in the other complex! I know that you've sent your children over there to deal with the humans residing in that structure after they've dealt with the ones here!_

The queen was confused by the image of the human child the woman had implanted in her brain. _– Do you wish her dead?_

It took every ounce of Ripley's self-control to not burn the queen into crisp with the flamethrower for that question. _NO, stupid! You of all beings in here should understand! You're a mother… as am __**I**__! That is __**my**__ child I'm showing you! __**My**__ young! Your sister made the mistake of capturing her – that's why I went down there: to get her out! I made a silent agreement with your sister that I would walk out of there with the child in exchange for not killing her young! But she tried to double-cross me when she allowed one of her eggs to try to over-power me. She broke the bargain – that's why I destroyed her!_

The queen snarled. _– I don't __**have**__ your young!_

_And you best never __**will! **_Ripley snarled back, wiping away the corrosive blood that was pouring down from her nose over her upper lip. It was flowing freely now, but she kept not letting it bother her. _You are not to __**touch**__ her! Tell your children! Tell them all! Show them the child. Tell them that the girl is to be left __**alone!**__ If any of your young lays one claw on her, then I __**will**__ destroy you like I destroyed all other previous crèches! TELL THEM! NOW!_

The queen screeched, not enjoying being blackmailed like this. The xenomorph mother was too used to being the dominating entity – having this puny human dictating the rules for her like this was an insult to her royal being. But Ripley was right: she was a mother foremost, just like the mammal – and her greatest concern was the safety of her brood, her children. The loss of one potential host was preferable than to lose everything by the hands of this crazy half-breed. She inhaled loudly several times, letting out the breath at the same sound level. Then the queen twitched her head, as if nodding to the drones that were still waiting at a safe distance. The drones hissed in reply. The queen directed her featureless face back towards the human woman, staring at the other intently despite the fact that she had no eyes to stare with.

– _Done!_ She said, having delivered the message as by the request.

_I'm taking them as well!_ Ripley said, nodding over her shoulder at the two remaining soldiers who were now turning visible to the aliens' perception, as the armbands finally failed, the power being drained. _Them and the other humans that still remain in this complex._

Ripley's statement earned another screech from the queen. _– That was __**not**__ part of our agreement!_

_I am __**altering**__ the deal! Pray I don't alter it any __**further! **_She indicated with her flamethrower, showing the queen that she was serious with her threat. She then turned around and faced the two soldiers. "Let's go before they change their minds of not attacking you."

Ripley, Hicks and Rogers were about to leave when the queen addressed her again. _– What of the mammals at the other complex? Are you demanding them too?_

Jacob McHagen and his band of underlings. What was Ripley going to do about them? The woman from two-hundred years ago would probably think that they should be spared somehow and brought back to answer for their crimes, just like she had wanted to do with Carter Burke despite the fact that he had tried to kill both her and Newt. She was driven by her humanity back then, as it always had been her greatest strength. But the Ripley of today was not quite human.

_From my point of view, they brought disaster upon themselves when they decided to come here – that is none of my concern! Do with them as you please - they mean nothing to me. Enjoy your kingdom._

* * *

The three humans walked out from the reactor room, and surprisingly enough, controversially to ordinary circumstances where the xenomorphs were concerned, they were not followed. The aliens allowed them to leave. Paige Rogers was all the way confused. Since she did not share the other two's ability to communicate with the aliens, she had no idea what had just transpired. From her perspective the woman Ripley and the monster queen had just stood staring at each other in silence, expressing an occasional snarl or screech – but making no attack. And now they were just walking out of there as if they had owned the place.

"What was that all about?" she asked the others.

That's what Hicks would like to know as well. He was furious with Ripley for taking such matters into her own hands and making deals involving Newt without consulting him. In Hicks' opinion, he was as much a father to the girl as Ripley insisted she was the mother. And what was now to become of the plan to destroy the aliens? Had Ripley just made a deal to let them be spared?! Had she _not_ initiated a countdown for the rocket to take off? As they had cleared a distance from the alien hive, the corporal turned around to the woman who was walking behind them and was about to speak his mind.

"What the _hell_ is your game?!"

But Ripley was in no condition to answer him. She was staggering and shaking, acidic blood flowing from several of her orifices on her face, destroying the fabric of her outfit wherever it dropped. Her knees then gave out and she crumbled to the deck, losing her consciousness.


	34. The prices to be paid

"We can't _do_ this!" Colonel Benelli exclaimed not for the first time.

"Why can't we?" Jacob McHagen scowled at him. "It's what we wanted!"

"Not like this!" the other persisted. "You're taking advantage of her distressed state!"

The subject of their heated discussion was Newt, whom was sitting quietly by a computer console working to get through the third 'challenge' of the disc she had brought to gain access to all the files. "She didn't want to do this before…" the colonel continued.

"But she got to her senses!" McHagen replied.

"No, she hasn't! Something's happened that made it worse! Didn't you listen to the price she demanded for giving us the files? She's gone _suicidal!_"

"No, she asked to be frozen," assistant Spencer intervened.

"She asked to be frozen _forever!_" Benelli pointed out. "Never to be woken up again! That's the same as she doesn't want to _live_ anymore! She needs psychiatric help, but you're _exploiting_ her depressed state! This is immoral!"

"How can you speak of morality considering everything we're guilty of in the past?" Admiral Henderson shot in.

That statement made McHagen angry, and he barked at the admiral: "I told you time after time: we're not guilty of _anything!_ What we've done we have done in the name of _science_ – for the benefit of _mankind!_"

"We can't hide behind that lie anymore!" Benelli growled. "We've done this solely for our own gain! It went too far with the business concerning the _Auriga_ when that commuter transport was hijacked – but I won't be part of sentencing a _child_ to an eternal ice-prison! That's too much for _my_ stomach! I'm dropping out of this syndicate!"

"You can't drop out!" Lieutenant Colonel Maziq said concerned. "We're in this together!"

"Maybe you should think of what it means to drop out, Colonel?" Spencer shot in. "You'll lose the benefit of protection... and think about the pension-plan we've set up for all of us – the wealth your wife, children and grandchildren are living in thanks to us. You're going to lose it all. Maybe you should think about your family?"

"I _am!_ I'm thinking that maybe I need to go home and _face_ them!" The truth, which no one spoke aloud of, was that the military insurance policy paid out in the case of his demise was the only thing that could save his family now. That was one of the reasons Colonel Hayes had shot himself – he hadn't wanted to allow his own misdeeds to destroy everything he had built up for his own family.

In an attempt to meet Colonel Benelli's objections as he right now was quite a troublemaker, Jacob McHagen voiced a counteroffer to Newt. "There's always room for renegotiations should you feel that you were a bit hasty with the price you demanded for giving us the files, Rebecca."

The child wasn't very accommodating to the suggestion. "I've made up my mind," she said plainly while steering the cursor in the right direction on the screen. "And don't call me that! It's Newt!"

"I'm just saying that these files are very valuable to us. We're ready to pay you a handsome fee for them."

Like he always had done in the past when concerning the girl, he had just said the wrong thing, and that added to her already flared anger for the use of what she considered was the wrong name. "It's _always_ about money with you!" she snarled at the commander. "You never think of anything else!"

"Money is the groundwork of our _entire_ society! I suppose you're still too young to understand that!"

"I understand enough to see that money makes you ready to kill people just to make them! You will never settle for enough; you will always want _more_ – and you don't care if people gets hurt in the process! And you wonder why I don't want to be part of this anymore?! I for one am _tired_ of being abused – by humans and aliens both, just for the sake of what _you_ want, but never for what I want!"

"But what _do_ you want?" Benelli tried to plead with her. "We understand that you don't want money – but we have the power to grant you any wish you have."

"_Liar!"_ Newt spat. "Can you give me back my _family_, my friends, my _home?!_ _That's_ what I really want – but I can't have them as they're _gone forever_ because of the Company – because of people like _you!_ Can you send me back through time to be rejoined with them? Can your stinking money give _them_ back to me?!"

Benelli looked ashamed. So did some others of McHagen's staff.

"I used to blame the monsters…" Newt went on while she continued to move the marker closer to the goal on the screen. She was close to completing the task. "…but it was _Company-people_ who arranged to set them loose! It was _humans_ who robbed me of everything I ever held dear, and it's _humans _who continuously seek to make my very existence even more miserable! If that's what society is, then you can _have_ it! But you'll have it _without_ me!"

"How old is she again?" Maziq whispered. "She sure doesn't speak like a child would!"

McHagen wasn't completely untouched by the girl's outburst either – although he got upset of something completely different.

"You can't hold _us_ responsible for what the Weyland-Yutani did in the past! We're not some greedy corporation, we're the Unites Systems military!"

"You're continuing their work with the monsters!" Newt pointed out. "For profit! Don't think I didn't hear you talking, I've got a good hearing!"

McHagen threw her a patronizing smile. "We're not flying blind with our work here! Do you really expect us to _fail?_"

"No, I expect you to _die!_"

McHagen was about to throw a retort when the computer screen before Newt emptied and reloaded with a swarm of circulating pixels, and then a voice was heard from the speakers. "- This is not the way, Newt!" The pixels compacted themselves in the center of the screen and formed the shape of a familiar face.

"What the hell is _this?!"_ McHagen demanded.

"Go away, Bishop!" Newt said to the face on the screen. "This is _my_ choice!"

"- You're not thinking rationally, child," Bishop replied. "You're under the influence of an anxiety attack that has made you go temporarily mentally unstable." The synthetic of today was quite straightforward with his statements. "- You're a sick little girl. You need to cease this and go back to your friends. They will help you putting you back to your senses."

"They're _not_ my friends!"

"- Of course they are. Why would you think otherwise? Ripley loves you, and so does Hicks."

"That is _not_ Ripley!" the girl spat. "It's some kind of thing that has her face, but who acts like the monsters! And Hicks is probably _dead_ now! There's no way to fool the monsters. I'm as alone again as I've always been!"

"- That is not true, Newt."

"Go _away_, Bishop!"

"- I can't do that, Newt. I didn't give you that disc for you to give to the enemy. It was supposed to be your bargaining chip!"

"That's exactly how I'm using it!"

"- _Not_ this way!"

Bishop didn't get the chance to argue any further, because Jacob McHagen was fiddling with the computer controls to the side – and suddenly a feedback surge was launched that was designed to disrupt the current active program which in this case was Bishop. It was written to decompile spy algorithms and in McHagen's eyes, Bishop was an intrusive program. Bishop groaned as the anti-spyware attacked him and he was forced to flee.

"You told him exactly what was going on here," the commander said as the screen became clear again. "We made a bargain, and no one should try to disrupt that deal!"

Although she had got an uncomfortable knot in her stomach, Newt made a final command with the data mouse which gave unlimited access to all the files on the disc. "There," she said unenthusiastically and stepped away from the computer. "There they are: all of the files. Now what about what I want?"

"Yes, yes, I'll make the arrangements…" the commander said impatiently, sitting down in the seat Newt had vacated. "…once I've made certain that these files are authentic!" Like a kid at Christmas, McHagen began to look through the newly revealed information. "You've done me a great favor… Newt."

The child looked at the commander with a perplexed expression. It was the first time he had called her by that name – and her own reaction was not what she had expected. Hearing her name, which in reality was a pet-name that she had gotten all the way used to, coming from the mouth of somebody she detested – it sounded so wrong.

"You know what… I've changed my mind! You don't get to call me that. It's the only thing I have left, and I don't want it tarnished."

McHagen scowled. People were in some sense right by calling her an adult in a child's body – she certainly acted like some grown women who always changed their minds! But at the same time she was really childish, which was normal considering her true age. He would have to work out the arrangements for an ice-tomb for her quite soon, so he could get _rid_ of that annoying kid! To give them access to the files was the only reason she was thawed up in the first place anyway – now she was obsolete!

"You should feel proud anyhow, whatever you want to be called! With these files, you have really turned the tide for us!"

Now it was Newt who scowled. "It won't make any difference," she said coldly and with certainty. "You're _still_ going to die."

* * *

"How long are we supposed to _wait_ here?!" Johner growled impatiently.

"For as long as we _need_ to!" Adrienne snapped back, feeling really tired of the pirate's whining. "Ripley told us to wait until she got here!"

The doctor, the pirate, and Zack Ryan was in the all-terrain tractor that was referred to as an ambulance. Adrienne had chosen that vehicle because it contained many emergency medical equipment which she needed to treat Ryan for his wounds he'd received from the cat. The feline in question was still in the box, safely secured in a special slot within the ambulance that was made to admit such containers. The cat had it more comfortable then what the humans did right now.

Meanwhile the doctor took the opportunity to do a more thorough job with Ryan's ruined eyes. It was the healer's code that compelled Adrienne to continue to treat the slob, not because he had earned it. The soldiers that had carried him from the now over-run safehouse had simply dropped him off in the ambulance and then joined the rest of their comrades in the transport bus behind the tractor. Adrienne silently wished that Johner would've joined them as well in the other vehicle, but he had no more allegiance to them than he had to her. The only reason he remained with the doctor was because she had promised to fix his face. She was starting to think that the price was too high.

"Did Ripley say _when_ she would get here then?" Johner asked.

"She didn't pass me that much more information."

"Typical!" Johner muttered.

"Who cares about her?" Ryan groaned though his sedatives. "She's just a worthless woman! Leave! Forget about the bitch!"

"_Shut up!"_ Johner barked. "You have the _least_ say in this matter!" The burly pirate may have told Ryan off, but Adrienne could see that he maybe was starting to consider it.

"Let's just hole up here for a little while longer. Unless the situation changes, I believe we are safe here for the time being."

"Until those damn bugs find their way here!" Johner pointed out. "The least you could do is to give her a call over the radio!"

"I did! But her communicator seems to be out of order, don't ask me why. And I can't raise Hicks or the others either."

"We can just assume that they're dead then."

"We don't assume _anything_ until we get some hard facts!"

Johner scoffed. "For somebody who didn't enjoy being raised in a military family, you sure speak like one, Doc!"

"Genetics are too hard of things to try and get away from…"

Just then the door to the tractor flew open. Johner scrambled, directing the muzzle of his rifle towards the opening thinking that it was a hostile attack from the very creatures that had infested this place. He squeezed the trigger – but it would not fire. In his haste, he had forgotten to release the safety catch. It was good fortune too that he had, because it wasn't any aliens. It was Hicks and the female Airman Rogers. They were dragging a third figure between them.

"Doc! Need some help here!" Hicks called out as he dragged his load inside while Paige Rogers showed from the outside before climbing in after the corporal. The load in question was the still form of a woman hanging facedown between the two soldiers. Ripley!

"What happened?" Adrienne became instantly alert.

"She came after us into the reactor room," Hicks explained. "The close proximity to the hive has given her some sort of seizure!"

"It was like she got aneurysm or something," Rogers filled in. "She was bleeding a lot – and then she collapsed after she got us out!"

"Careful!" Hicks cautioned the doctor as she was about to lift Ripley's face. "There's blood all over her, and it's acidic! You don't want it on you!"

"I'll be careful," Adrienne said has she placed her fingertips on the side of the unconscious woman's scalp that appeared to be free of blood and tilted it upwards. What she saw shocked her as well as the others.

"Oh, my god!" the doctor gasped.

"What the hell happened to her?" Johner asked, feeling disgusted. Ripley's skin was quite pale, but that wasn't the startling detail. It was the blood that coated her exterior hide. It looked like it had coagulated, changed color and had turned into a dark semi-hard shell which covered the exposed places on her body where she had bled. From the edges of the dark shell it looked like there had grown tendrils that had dug into her skin, attaching themselves like roots. And before Adrienne's eyes, the doctor could almost swear that the gross material was expanding, growing.

"It looks almost like the chitinous hide of the xenomorphs!" Hicks blurted out as he and Rogers put Ripley down on the deck against the wall. He became even more concerned as he took away his hands from Ripley's bare arms. It was like a sticky web had gotten attached to his fingers which trailed like filaments back to the woman. The resin-like matter lay like a coat covering the rest of her skin. Paige Rogers experienced the same thing, and she fervently shook her hands to get rid of the stuff. "What's going on with her?!" Hicks demanded.

Adrienne had to force herself to remain calm. "I… I'm not sure. I've never seen anything like it! But this stuff she's emanating… it isn't blood or webbing! It looks like some kind of mucilaginous compound!"

"I could tell that," Hicks muttered.

"I'll take a sample for analysis!"

Adrienne collected some of the viscous stuff on Ripley's body and put it in a portable scanner. She frowned as she looked at the results displayed. "High concentrations of amino acids, proteins… and a lot of bio-strands that we haven't put names on yet."

"Is it dangerous to us?" Rogers asked.

"No, this isn't some kind of airborne viral strain… the closest resemblance this compound has compared to our scientific bio-knowledge is that it is consistent to the membrane the moth larva wraps around itself during its pupal stage."

"Say that again?"

"She's weaving a cocoon around herself to go through a metamorphosis, just like the larva does to turn into a butterfly."

"She's turning into a _butterfly?!"_ Johner asked incredulously.

"That was just a comparison in description," Adrienne replied feeling irate with the pirate's stupidity. "I don't know what she'll turn into!"

"Either way she's acting like a _bug!_" Johner said. "I _hate_ bugs!"

"Throw her out!" Ryan said from the back. "Get rid of her!"

"I'm actually inclined to agree with him," Johner mumbled.

"Quiet, you!" Hicks spat back. "Can you stop this, doctor?"

"I don't even know what caused this change to start in the first place," Adrienne returned. "Was she stung? Is this the result of some kind of venom?"

"All I know is that she was in a mind-link connection with the Queen… They never made any physical touch what I could see."

Adrienne looked skeptical. "You would suggest that this initial metamorphic change was activated by a hormonal reaction caused by a stimulation to the brain's reception center due to a telepathic exchange with a xenomorph? Sounds a little far-fetched to me."

"Hey! Speak English!" Johner called out. He was ignored.

"I'm not suggesting anything, I'm only telling you what I saw from my perspective," Hicks said in defense. "I don't doubt at all that any other biological events is more your department of expertise. I'd never try to intrude in your profession in any way!"

"Well, if that's all you can tell me, then there's no way I'll be able to reverse this."

"…Don't… try…" a weak voice groaned. "Must… happen…"

"Ripley!" Hicks kneeled in front of the woman. "What the hell are you saying? What must happen?"

The woman's eyelids suddenly flew open. The globes in her sockets were no longer white, they had a pale sickly shade of yellow in color – but her dark irises focused on the corporal.

"- She's saying that this change is part of the _deal _she made!" Her voice was not only suddenly sounding stronger, but deep and guttural as well.

"You think that's funny, Ripley?" Johner scolded the woman. But Hicks knew that it was something more serious.

"That's _not_ Ripley!" Hicks scrambled to his feet, pointing his rifle at the shape on the deck. "That's her _other_ self! That's _Raksha!_"

The demon chuckled. "- Put that down, Dwayne. It's as a matter of fact in both of our interests that we don't fight each other right now."

"Where's Ripley? What have you done with her?"

"- She's here..."

"I want to talk to her!"

"- …but she's indisposed! This transformation is taking a heavier toll on her than on me!"

"Then this _is_ your doing!"

"- She agreed to it."

"That's _bullshit!_" Hicks spat.

"- She agreed to it out of her love for the child!"

"For _Newt?!_ That's even _more _bullshit! You really expect me to believe that?!" He really did want to shoot the demon – the problem was that he would kill Ripley at the same time, and he was not prepared to do that... yet.

Raksha kept fixing her eyes on the corporal, but she did not get up from the deck. "- Do you believe that Ripley loves the girl to the level that she would do anything to keep her safe?"

"I know she'd do anything to _be_ with the girl! You'd think a metamorphosis would get them closer? That'd only drive them further apart!"

"- That's the plan," Raksha confirmed with a glee. "The girl _already_ does not want to be close to Ripley – that's why she's letting the child go!"

"What are you talking about?"

"- The deal we made with the queen! You heard it… we knew you were listening – her children were instructed not to touch Ripley's… all so that you could get Newt safely off this planet! That's why you were spared as well: Newt doesn't trust Ripley, but she trusts _you!_ Therefore she will be your responsibility from now on!"

"And what of Ripley?"

Raksha's smile grew wider. "- She will stay _here!_ With me! And together we will take our rightful place as the mother of _my_ children here!"

Hicks was confused. "But they already _have_ a mother with the queen. They _rejected_ you!"

"- But once she's gone, they will turn to _me!_"

"What do you mean?"

"- As this rocket takes off, she will die!"

"Huh? I was under the impression that Ripley didn't finish the calculations that would send this rocket up into the sky and obliterate the xenomorphs?!"

"- It still will! We _deceived_ the queen!"

"I don't understand…" Adrienne said.

"- When Ripley gave you the call to evacuate the safehouse, we were on the bridge. Before we went down, we devised a plan that would benefit both of us: we set up for the current queen not to touch the girl Newt in exchange for us not destroying her hive. I was on the same mind-level with Ripley when we made the negotiations. The queens of my kind are smarter than the drones, but they're still _simpletons!_ She would never listen to the words of a human, but she listened to mine! And she believed _me!_"

"She shouldn't have!" Hicks realized.

"- One of the advantages of being blended with a human like I have been is that I have mastered the trait for double-crossing, better than what the queen would be able to do" Raksha said with a smug. "- No doubt is the queen thinking to double-play us as well, but we are one step _ahead_ of her! We _finished_ the auto-settings for blast-off before we went down! That other queen is standing in the way of my destiny – so we're getting _rid_ of her!"

"So the departure is _still_ on! How much time do we have before it takes off?" Hicks asked.

"- What time is it now?" the demon asked. The others told her. "- Hnnnnn… it's later than I thought," Raksha mumbled.

"What does that mean?"

"- It means that if you don't drive out of here now, you'll join this structure into _oblivion!_ It'll take off _any_ minute now!"

Paige Rogers gasped at the news. "_Now?!_ Good _heavens!" _The female soldier scrambled off towards the drivers chair and quickly took the seat. Johner who had turned pale as he realized the seriousness of the situation of an impending doom was looking after her.

"You certain you know how to drive this thing?!"

"Oh, just because I happen to be in the airforce you don't think I know how to handle a four-wheeled rig?" she shot back over her shoulder at the pirate while she started up the engine. "I grew up in a motor-pool for dune-buggies! And I'm married to a guy who organizes intergalactic drag-racings! I've spent a fair deal of time behind wheels!"

Rogers spoke into her radio telling the soldiers in the bus behind the tractor to follow her lead. The inner hatch of the garage opened, and the vehicles began to roll.

"You're going ahead with the plan to blow this complex up so that you can kill your rival queen?" Adrienne asked the demon skeptically. "But you'll destroy all the other xenomorphs in the process? You said you want to be their mother?"

"- They're not _here_ anymore!" Raksha said. "- They're all out to eliminate the rest of the humans by orders of the other queen! They were to begin with your safehouse, but you were already gone! That's why they've proceeded to the _secondary_ target!"

"The _habitat_ complex!"

"- They're already halfway there by now, having gone out through exit-points you would never have thought of using. They won't be caught in the blast. Only the q_ueen_ and a handful of her worker drones!"

"And her eggs!" Hicks pointed out.

"- A necessary sacrifice," Raksha said with only the slightest hint of regret. "- But once our transformation is complete, I will produce _new_ ones! _I_ will be the ruler of the new hive: the _new_ mother - just like I wanted!"

"And Ripley _agreed _to it?!"

"- It's the price she's willing to pay to make sure that Newt will never again be touched by my kind even after the current queen dies! _Ripley's life_ in exchange for the Newt's safety! No mother would do any less for her children!"

* * *

While the last of the human residents of the research complex took action to escape the facility that was about to blast off into the sky, one single person already stood in position waiting for the event to take place.

Keevan Felger had his own mission to accomplish: he was to blow the umbilical conduit that connected the two structures so that it wouldn't throw the rising rocket off course. He was clad in a hazard suit which had been provided thanks to the ambulance in the garage that was equipped with all necessary safeguards to accomodate any medical hot zones - therefore he was protected from LV-426's radioactive atmosphere. Originally the plan was that Johner was to go with him as a bodyguard, but Keevan had declined Johner's company – the other hadn't complained at all to that. Keevan figured he could be more effective working solo as a single person was more unlikely to draw any attention from the xenomorphs. Besides, he had never really particularly enjoyed the burly pirate's company. Keevan figured he would be quite safe with the stealth-shield armband anyway.

Placing the charges was a quick and easy work – it was done hardly in any time at all. What was time-consuming was the slow-going wait afterwards… he couldn't risk blowing it prematurely as _that_ would in turn alert the honchos in the other complex to what they were up to – despite the crisis of the loose aliens, the military would never want their precious research to just go up in flames.

And yet Keevan had been busy. While he had been out there, Bishop have had a conversation with him, setting him up to do another task within the alien derelict itself. Keevan hadn't been so certain with doing a task that had not been approved by Hicks or Ripley – but after hearing what Bishop had wanted him to do, his hatred for the aliens for killing his twin brother had settled his mind. Under Bishop's guidance, the task he'd been set out to do aboard the derelict had been completed – now he was huddling outside the gigantic horseshoe-shaped craft with a good view over the research complex, hunching away from the storm that was common on the planet.

It had been a close call for him before. He had been about to return to the outside, when he spotted through the oval openings in the back of the ship how a horde of xenomorphs were rushing by, running towards the other complex. Since Keevan had still been on the inside of the derelict, he had not been discovered – but he had made sure to activate his own armband and shroud himself with the energy the aliens couldn't see through – a good thing too, because one of the monsters _had_ taken a peek inside, but had been unable to pinpoint him. And then it had gone on its way together with the rest of its kin.

Keevan was alone now, standing beside the hull of the derelict outside, back at waiting for the rocket to take off. He still had the cloak activated in case one of the monsters would come back.

Ever since the task was finished, he had remained at radio-silence. He had no idea what had been going on inside the complex, had no idea how the progress of attaching the fuel-injectors to the engines had gone. He didn't even know if the people he'd left inside were still alive. Since the aliens had rushed over to the other complex like if the devil had chased them, it could mean that there was nothing left for them over there that could interest them. Keevan could very well be the only one left.

Keevan knew that it was likely that he would die here.

Well, life wasn't worth living anymore without his brother. Doing what he could do to destroy those monsters was all there were to him now. He would avenge Naavek Felger at any cost.

Finally he saw the sign he had been waiting for. There were columns of smoke coming from the afterburners, and a rumble was beginning to rise in volume above the winds of Acheron. And not only that: he could see in the distance that from the gate leading to the garage, two vehicles emerged. They sure were cutting it close: the smoke from the afterburners had turned to fire that was beginning to scorch the ground underneath it. It would take only a few seconds for it to increase in power to a massive force that would send the complex up into the sky. This was it! Keevan brought up his remote-panel and directed the antenna towards the umbilical conduit where he had fastened the bomb that would sever it. He moved his thumb to the switch of the detonator.

"This one is for you, Brother!" he said.

Before he could press the switch though, he was distracted when a thick drop of fluid splashed down on the remote. Was it raining? But it wasn't. On the spot the fluid had connected, the material began to sizzle and bubble, releasing an acrid smoke in the process. In no time at all, the fluid had burned through the entire device, leaving a hole straight through. Keevan tried the switch to detonate the bomb… but nothing. The circuits had been ruined! More of the fluid dripped down, which made Keevan look up above him. He came face to face with a fairy-tale nightmare.

_Dragon!_

Yes and no. It resembled the looks of a dragon, but it was a without a doubt a xenomorph – a _huge_ one, complete with wings! There were no visible eyes, and yet Keevan got the impression that the monster was looking right at him!

_But… you shouldn't be able to see me?!_

His cloak was indeed activated – but how was he to know… how was _anybody_ to know… that the weird energy the humans had salvaged from the derelict to disguise themselves from the sights of the aliens had one major flaw? It was sensitive to radioactivity! The hull of the derelict shielded the insides – within the ship it was clean. But on the _outside_… A nuclear reaction was basically that all neutron particles clew the atoms apart that they came in contact with continuously… and those reactions were disrupting the flow of energy from the armbands, canceling it out! The alien king could see him!

Not even Bishop knew of this flaw as he never had any chance to field-test the energy to different environments… so Keevan certainly had no way to be warned of this, nor would he ever be – or even learn what exactly had gone wrong. The king opened its massive maw, revealing its rigid tongue that was equipped with its own set of chrome-colored teeth. Keevan had no time to react, or even time to scream. The tongue shot out with the speed and force of a bullet, slamming through the outer fabric of the hazard suit, through the armored headgear, and then through skin, bone, and brain-tissue…


	35. Fates by fire

"So there's an energy field that masks the biological presence, preventing the creatures from detecting new hosts!" McHagen was astonished. "If I read this correct, it looks like the creatures can't see past it at all!"

"If we could erect this power as walls surrounding the pens, the specimens would be completely boxed in, seeing no escape route!" Admiral Henderson said excitedly.

"Our scientists could walk around them taking all kinds of tests without risk!" assistant Spencer shot in.

"The power source for this marvelous shield is somewhere aboard that craft out there!" McHagen was quite euphoric. "Where's it located?" he asked over his shoulder, looking at the child.

"What makes you think I would know that?" Newt asked sourly.

"The information must be written on this disc! Under which catalogue?"

"I didn't _write_ the damn thing!" Newt had a really painful knot in her stomach. What had she done? Her emotions had gotten the better of her, only seeking to get away from everything, wanting nothing else but to go back to the cold comfort of cryo-sleep where she wouldn't have to face this cruel world. But now as she had time to think about it, she was beginning to realize that if these people really were resourceful enough to hold the aliens captive so that the humans could exploit them, then she would have failed – even _betrayed_ her people, the colonists of Hadley's Hope. She knew now that she never should have given McHagen access to the disc – it meant that she might have given victory to the greedy corporations both of the present and of the past. It would take a miracle now to undo the damage she had done.

It looked like there was a guardian angel watching over her, because a technician just then rushed in with news that would dramatically change everything. "_Sir! Sir…"_

"How _dare_ you to barge in here without asking for permission to…" McHagen angrily began, but the technician spoke out the emergency above the commander's reprimand.

"Sir, the research complex is _blasting off!_"

McHagen's eyes went wide behind his spectacles. "_What?!"_

"It's in countdown mode…" the technician continued. "Ignition is already in stage!"

The commander rushed over to the window and gazed past the derelict over at the other structure. The rest of the staff-members came over as well. They could all see the base of the building where the afterburners were located was beginning to glow, and there was a vibrational rumble coursing through the ground which they felt even over at the habitat complex.

"It's _impossible!_" Assistant Spencer gasped. "The fuel injectors are supposed to be _disconnected_ from the engines!"

"If it takes off with the modules not being retracted back and secured to the fuselage…" Admiral Henderson squeaked. "The imbalance through the blast-off will make it break apart! It'll _blow!_"

McHagen turned back to the technician. "Why are you standing around here telling me about it?! _Abort_ the countdown! _Stop it!_"

"We _can't!"_ the technician said miserably. "We tried, but there's some kind of interference!"

The staff members could only watch helplessly as a massive cloud of fire spread from the afterburners all over the ground from the base of the research tower as the engines' capacity quickly climbed to their full effect. They were too far away to spot the two vehicles that were trying to outrun the rapidly expanding mass of ignited gas.

* * *

"_Floor it, Rogers!"_ Hicks exclaimed as he watched through the rear viewport the wall of fire rushing after both them and the personnel transport bus. "Put the pedal to the metal!"

"I'm already going as fast as I can!" the female at the wheel called back.

Johner broke down into a panic. "_Oh, my God! We're going to die! We're going to die! We're going to get incinerated!"_ His melancholy mood caused the blinded Zack Ryan to break down as well.

"- Been there – done that," Raksha was heard saying. She was for some strange reason smiling, being the most nonchalant of them all. "- I'll admit that it is not one of the more pleasurable experiences – but the transition from living state to death is expected to be quick."

"_You damn bitch, how can you think this is funny?!"_ Johner raged at the woman.

"- It's funny because I can feel Ripley actually hoping that we _will_ perish," Raksha replied in her guttural voice. "- …it would be a way for her to get out of this metamorphosis we're undergoing." Her smile became wider, her yellow eyes gleaming. "- But I have faith in you! You're resilient… I'm sure you'll find a way to survive this as well."

"I'm glad _somebody's_ positive!" Adrienne muttered, clinging tightly to a bulkhead to keep herself upright from the rough ride they were having.

Hicks was not positive about their chances. The wall of fire being spewed from the powerful rocket boosters was gaining up on them too fast.

"Can we make it to the derelict and get behind it?" he asked Rogers. "The hull would shield us!"

The female Airman's reply was not very encouraging although her voice was almost steady. "Not a chance! It'll catch up to us before that! I've only got one thing to try! Hang on to something!" She swerved the wheel to the right, steering off the road that had been made for the transport bus to travel between the two complexes. The tractor they were in was the all-terrain ambulance from the _Athena_ \- it was capable of travelling over rough surfaces. Paige Rogers, experienced with racing in her civilian life, was to use the momentum of the speed she had built up to drive up the slope of the cliff to their side, taking advantage of the centrifugal power that was in effect from the acceleration to climb diagonally and almost vertically up the cliffside while still staying on its wheels. It seemed to work. "If I can just get to the top of the ridge and over it to the other side, then the cliff will protect us!" she said, sweating.

Hicks gazed out the viewport again, to watch the progress of the rocket's take-off. As it was such a heavy structure, the engines had to build up a massive force to be able to shoot the whole thing up in the sky – it meant that the afterburners would keep spewing out fire. To his horror he saw that the hellish cloud was licking the back of the personnel bus behind them. He hit his radio.

"Speed it up!" he bellowed into his mike. "Follow our lead!"

The voice which he recognized belonged to Gennaro came back into his ear with a tone that was filled with terror. "- This thing isn't built for off-road travel! It's _too late_ for us! We're not going to… AAAAAARRRRGHHH!"

The back tires of the bus melted and blew. The vehicle lost plenty of its precious speed as the under-carriage scraped the ground and the whole rig was immediately engulfed by the ignited gas. Hicks could hear the screams of his dying men in his radio. He knew that the temperature within the bus had instantly risen to an unbearable temperature that was boiling the passengers alive. Within the inferno, Hicks could see how the silhouette of the rig was picked up by the shockwave and was carried with it. The screams he still heard over the radio ended mercifully abruptly as the fuel tank ruptured and blew the vehicle to pieces, where the last remains would be totally consumed by the fire in an instant.

Hicks was shaken. His men, the soldiers that had come to their senses and had joined him to fight the aliens were all gone, killed in a horrible way. He would never forget those screams for as long as he lived. The question was how long the remainder of his life was going to be. The raging inferno from the afterburners was beginning to lick the rear of the ambulance now.

"_Rogers!"_ he called forward, on the verge of hysteria.

Captain Paige Rogers of the Airforce had no intention of dying today. She was thinking of her husband and her two boys. It was for their sake she had turned loyalties when the scientists began to conduct the experiments with the extraterrestrial creatures – she did not want have that kind of monstrous plague to risk spreading over the population. She had signed up to the army to fight and prevent development of biological weapons, not assisting 'her side' in making them themselves! Her actions had turned into a calamity, but she was the one in control handling the all-terrain tractor. Her family was not to lose a wife and mother to this.

Mustering the best possible speed she was able to get out of the tractors engines, she reached the ridge of the cliff without decreasing. The vehicle flew over the top and sailed momentarily through the air until gravity forced it down to land on the slope on the opposite side of the face of the mountain. They almost toppled over as the wheels landed on the diagonal rocky surface, but the woman compensated and managed to stay upright, and she slowed down. They were safe. The fiery fire from the rocket's afterburners blew over the top of the ridge, but it couldn't follow them down. The rock shielded them.

"Rogers, you're in my will!" Hicks said as he let out the breath he'd been holding.

"You buy me dinner, and we'll call it even," the woman returned with a relieved tone of her own.

Above the top of the mountain ridge they had sailed over, the passengers of the ambulance could see how the rocket that was the research complex had built up enough force to lift off the ground and began ascending into the air, trailing the four outer modules with it. Already the rocket was beginning to show signs of imbalance because of the deployed external weight that had not been retracted back into the body. As anticipated, it would not be able to withstand the stresses for very long. Hicks imagined how micro-fractures were already beginning to form in the fuselage and tear the hull apart. He only prayed it would hold out long enough to get enough distance from the ground before it blew, taking all the revolting research and aliens with them into oblivion. Nothing could hinder it now – except…

Despite the thick smoke and fire, he could still see a distinguished detail trailing along with the rising craft. The reinforced umbilical conduit that connected the two complexes with communications wires and other sturdy cables. It tethered the flying body to the complex still on the ground like an anchor. He hit his radio again.

"Felger! Blow the umbilical line! Now!"

There was no response.

"Felger, do you copy? Blow the line! Felger? _Felger!"_

Hicks didn't see how Raksha smiled behind him, knowing something about Keevan Felger that the corporal didn't. The corporal himself came to an insight of what might have become of the remaining twin since he had learned from the demon that currently was in control of Ripley's body that a large amount of the aliens had already left the research complex, seeking to destroy the people at the other structure. Could it be that they had crossed into Keevan Felger's path? Had his own protective armband failed him?

Whatever had happened, it was apparent that the remining twin was gone, and his demise led to the upcoming unavoidable consequence it was to about to bring as the rocket rose higher up in the air: calamity!

"Oh, my god!" he whispered.

* * *

The staff-members in McHagen's conference room watched in despair how the research tower rose up into the air, on its course to oblivion. All their investments and materials, everything they had sacrificed to achieve here on this planet was only seconds away from being vaporized. Only the old and experienced Colonel Benelli silently mused to himself, thinking that this was a kind of poetic justice since he just recently had a change of heart.

Commander Jacob McHagen wasn't just seeing his investments shooting up towards the sky – he was watching his entire career going away with it. There would be no way he would be able to hide this disastrous failure from the congress. The investigators would turn over every rock and dig up every hole they had covered and discover what they had done. This meant the end for all of them. McHagen felt the despair and rage overwhelm him. He needed to take it out on somebody, and there was only one present whom he felt really earned his wrath. Clenching his hands, he turned to the child.

"You _knew _about this, didn't you?!" McHagen growled. "You _knew_ that the traitors over there was about to attempt this, and you didn't _tell_ me!"

Newt stepped backwards, frightened by the commander's outburst. Yes, she had known all about it. Her cognitive senses were beyond excellent, being on a level of an adult's. It was a result from her time of solitude after her colony was overrun by the aliens when her instincts had prematurely evolved some of her brain functions in order to survive. Some, but not all.

She had the cognitive perceptions of an adult, but her processive senses were still influenced by her emotions that had been unaffected – those that were still on the level of a six-year old, which was her true age. She had not believed that her adults friends would be able to pull this plan off. Her fear of the aliens was the dominant force at play: she had been convinced that the monsters would prevail again, and kill anyone who came into their domain. To her it was a fact soon to take place, no alternative outcome had existed in her mind. That's why she hadn't bothered to say anything about it to McHagen – it wouldn't have made any difference. Newt had therefore been just as surprised as anyone when the other rocket suddenly took off. It wasn't the first time her evolved senses had clashed with her juvenile emotions and given her trouble, but it seemed to be the last time. McHagen looked ready to kill her. She did want to escape this life, but not like this.

"You've _ruined me!"_ McHagen roared, all red in his face.

The staff members weren't paying attention to their commander's rage as they were becoming aware of a new danger the drama outside posed.

"Oh, my god!" Admiral Henderson gasped. "The _umbilical line!_"

The lead-lined reinforced flexible conduit that ran over the ground between the two complexes, containing several high voltage power cables and communication lines that was firmly attached to multiple strongpoints at either end; those wouldn't just come off if you pulled at one of them. The idea was for Hicks and his rebels to blow it, but their explosives expert was dead, and the line was still attached. The rocket hadn't reached enough altitude when the line suddenly snapped taut, halting the escaping body in midair. The sudden stop left none of the two spacefaring buildings unaffected. For the habitat complex still on the ground, the entire structure suddenly jumped and in effect violently heaved all the decks inside, throwing every resident off their feet. As for the research complex itself, it began to spin around the axis-point where the umbilical line was connected to it, all forms of equilibrium totally deleted. It didn't do it for very long though…

* * *

Within the reactor room, the queen was screaming in rage. She had been betrayed! When the engines ignited, her hive had turned into a furnace that had set fire to all of her eggs as well as the organic properties her workers had sprayed on the walls to make the crèche. And she could tell from the g-forces she felt that the structure she was inside was making a repositioning action. The human with an essence of another queen had deceived her – double-crossed her! _Cursed soft meat!_ The mammal must've _known_ that the queen never had any intention on keeping their bargain indefinitely! But the woman with the essence of another queen had made her move _first,_ before the queen mother had come into position to make hers – and now it was too late! Everything had happened too fast – the queen didn't have time to tell her surviving children that the deal they made was off as she knew that death was upon her. And then the engines exploded, the heat-bloom of fire rendering her chitinous hide instantly into burnt crisp that shattered and allowed the inferno to consume her internal meat. The queen died without knowing if it was the human essence or if it was the rival queen within the mammal that was the mastermind of this deception.

* * *

The gravitational stresses to the imbalanced body overcame the structural integrity of the fuselage. Everything ruptured instantly, releasing contained combustible vapors, breaking seals which held back the pressures from the engines and allowed them to meet. The gases were immediately ignited, the fire following it back to its source; through cracks, pipes, and even through taps that had failed to close. The rocket that was the research complex exploded in midair. But the danger wasn't passed yet. It had only been a part explosion that had robbed the rocket of its flight capabilities. Now the burning wreck was to come down. And since it had been steered out of position being anchored to the umbilical line, the crashing body was directly above the habitat complex! The officers in the conference room that were crawling back to their feet after having been tossed to the deck, especially those with knowledge in geometric positions and mass relations, knew how this would affect them.

"_Everybody out of here!"_ General Berger-Hauser screamed. The staff members who had gotten the grasp of the situation all rushed towards the stairs, thinking only of their own safety. It was every man for himself.

Newt was also sprawled on the floor, dazed after the sudden shock from the floor that had sent her flying. She didn't know what had gotten the other adults in such a panicked mood, but she shared their idea that it was time to get out of there. Her own plan to be put into a freezer pod had gone south with the sudden blast-off of the other structure. With all the research in it gone, McHagen would have no more need of the information on the disc she had brought - her bargaining chip had been vaporized together with the complex. And since McHagen sought to blame her for the recent mess, she didn't want to stick around anymore. She saw out in the corner of her eye how McHagen fought to get back on his feet, currently with his back turned away from her. It was best to keep it that way. She got up and began to rush in the other direction, thinking that that she should be able to escape back into the airducts. The adults wouldn't be able to follow her in there.

Newt got distracted however at the sight outside the window that was facing the alien derelict still resting on the ground undisturbed. The view was getting obscured. Time seemed to slow down for her – it was like she was seeing in slow-motion. A burning meteorite was coming down passing the window just outside… No, not a meteorite – the flaming remains of the rocket! It came down so close that the flames licked the transparent pane, and she understood that the wreck was about to crash down right at the very doorstep of the habitat complex! Newt barely had time to think, wondering if the structure she was inside was sturdy enough to withstand the impact. In her slowed down perception, she experienced a moment of complete silence as the window was totally filled with a blinding light – a light that broke through the thick pane of glass. No matter how strong it was, it could not resist the shock of the secondary explosion that came from the crash. The window exploded. Newt was only dimly aware of that she was once again no longer standing on her feet. She was being thrown backwards by a shockwave that came together with a wall of fire and shards of glass and pieces of superhot debris, all which was coming directly towards her. Although she was experiencing silence, she knew that the sound of the explosion was deafening, just as she knew that the wave of fire and burning particles was going to do her serious and most likely lethal harm. Newt barely had time to throw her arms in front of her face, knowing it would do no good at all as she felt a heavy force slam into her, and her world fell into darkness…

* * *

"NEWT! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Hicks wailed in despair. Since the rocket had ascended above the ridge of the cliff the ambulance had taken shelter behind, the survivors within the vehicle had seen it all how the flying complex had been hindered in midair by the still attached umbilical line, how it had exploded, and how the wreckage came down to crash right at the base of the habitat complex. The tower of the command structure was shorter than what the research tower had been, only three stories high. And the face of the front façade took the full force of the crashing body, the detonation ripping up the whole exterior of the other structure.

That was never the plan! The whole idea was to blow the umbilical line so that it wouldn't stop the rocket from ascending higher into the air, but it had all gone wrong. No one could have anticipated that the wreckage would then crash down into the other complex, where Newt was! He should have gone after her! But no… instead he had allowed his bloody soldier mantra take precedence: the mission had to come first when it should have been Newt being his first priority! If she had been caught in the blast and perished, then it was _his_ fault! He had failed her, and it was something he would never forgive himself for. He shouted out her name again, only this time it was joined by the desperate cry from Ripley, who had despite her ongoing transformation got up from the floor and was watching the effects of their actions through the windshield with wild eyes, she too calling out the little girl's name.


	36. Rock, paper, scissors

"I wouldn't use the word _miracle!_" Adrienne Kinloch commented, watching the scene of the disaster through the windshield. "We're just extremely fortunate."

"I take it you don't believe in miracles?" Paige Rogers said from behind the wheel as she drew the ambulance past the habitat complex that was now in ruins.

"Not really. As a doctor and a biologist I only believe in what I see. And from my point of view, I say that circumstances were simply in our favor."

The subject of their discussion concerned the _Athena_. The rocket had crash-landed right next to the tower of the habitat complex, causing it some extreme damage. The 'terrace-house' modules to its left side were smashed in and wrecked – but the humanitarian ship that was docked at the end of that row had got out of the disaster intact. The lander that was docked to the right-side end of the other row of modules had also survived, but it could only be boarded from the inside of the structure. The ambulance they were travelling in was to be linked to the back exterior of the _Athena_, so it was only natural that Paige Rogers was circling around the complex to get to the other ship. The plan now was to commandeer the humanitarian vessel.

"Do you think there are any survivors?" the Airman asked assessing the damage of the habitat tower as she was driving by.

"I don't dare to speculate," Adrienne replied, assessing the calamity herself. "But if there are, they're exposed to the radioactive atmosphere. The crash cracked open the walls. They are in no way any safer now than they were before."

"Add to the fact that there are aliens crawling out there!" Hicks put in. "The queen had sent them out before the rocket blasted off and there are some that wasn't caught by the afterburners. No doubt are they scuttling around here, looking for new hosts to make a new hive."

"But they can't expand their numbers without a queen and eggs, right?" Rogers said with a hint of hope. Hicks wasn't so sure though, glancing over at Ripley. The woman was for the moment standing up, but she was still partly covered with the hard-shell membrane that was meant to cocoon her and have her undergo a metamorphosis. According to her dark-side personality of Raksha, he was looking at the new queen right there!

Hicks had no idea how he was going to deal with that. Every fiber in his body screamed to him that the threat of new xenomorphs had to be eliminated, but it would be down-right murder as he would kill Ripley at the same time. Well, he would have to figure out that dilemma later – he had other priorities now.

"It's safe to say that there is no power in the complex anymore, so we can't enter the base though the main gate to the garage. It's totally blocked anyway by debris from the crashed rocket."

Rogers looked at the corporal perplexed. "I thought we were heading for the _Athena_?"

"_You_ are!" Hicks returned. "I need you to drop me off right here. The crash cracked open some of the segments between the outer modules. I should be able to get in through there."

"Why?" Rogers persisted while she halted the vehicle.

"I must try to find Newt! I have to know whether she's alive or dead. If there's the slightest chance that she has survived, then I've got to get to her!"

"There might be other survivors as well," Adrienne said. "From the looks of it, the corridor between the _Athena_ and the tower is completely flattened and blocked, but the path to the lander on the opposite end should be clear. If the lander would just vacate the airlock, then we should be able to dock with the _Athena _right there and enter the complex."

"I'm not waiting that long!" Hicks said determinately. "You keep going to the ship – I'm going in through here and start looking for survivors!"

"It's good thinking," another was saying. "– there's just one thing wrong with it! You're not going – _I_ am!"

"You have _no_ say in this, Raksha!" Hicks almost barked.

"I'm not Raksha! I've managed to suppress her again!"

"Sheesh, with you keep changing personalities like that, how will we ever know whose who talking?" Johner commented.

"This is _not_ open for debate, Ripley!" Hicks told off the other.

"But it is! I have the better strength in case you need to clear off rubble that blocks the path. With my blended physiology, I'm the better choice to go in there!"

"You're in no shape at all!" Hicks pointed out. "Just look at yourself… you're in the beginning of a transformation process, metamorphosing into something I don't even dare to imagine!"

"It has not gone that far yet…" Ripley stated, digging her fingers beneath the edge of the hard blackened shell that had perspired from the pores of her hide and solidified… and then she began to pull it off with a squelching sound, taking with it the outer layer of her skin, uprooting the small tendrils that was piercing her hide, trailing filaments from the shell to her exposed flesh of what looked like the aliens' typical kind of slime they secreted, only they were partly stained with her blood.

Johner almost vomited. "_Goddamn_, Ripley! That is _revolting!"_ Hicks felt queasiness in his tummy as well.

"That won't stop the metamorphosis," Adrienne said, sounding completely normal.

"I can't stop it, but I can slow it down… at least long enough for me to find Newt!"

"I told you: _I'm_ going after her!" Hicks objected.

"I have a better chance of finding her than you – _I'm_ going!"

"Even if you did find her, what makes you think she would go with you? She doesn't _trust_ you! But she trusts _me!_ You said so yourself when you made that stupid deal with Raksha!"

"The aliens are instructed not to touch her according to the deal we made with the queen - but they don't have the same reservations with _you!_ I therefore stand a better chance of reaching her!"

"How long are they intending to keep this up?" Paige Rogers passed to Dr. Kinloch, who only shrugged in response.

"I'm taking that chance!" Hicks said in a heated voice.

"I'm not _willing_ to have you taking that chance!" Ripley returned in a matching tone.

"For crying out loud!" Johner sighed. "Why don't you just flip a coin?"

Ripley threw a glance at her crewmate of the _Betty_, contemplating on what he said – then she turned back to Hicks. "Did you ever play the game 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' in your youth?"

Hicks couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You've got to be _joking?!_ You really want to _play_ for a solution?"

"We really need to end this impasse. We don't have time for anything else!"

The corporal looked like he was about to argue… but then he relented. "All right. But the first victory goes. We don't have time for any best out of three."

Ripley nodded and raised her hand to her chest. Hicks did the same and started to count. "One… two… three."

Hicks brought his hand forward, holding it flat like paper. Ripley brought hers forward as well, as a fist. By all rules, Hicks would've won as 'paper' overcome 'rock', had Ripley been intent on following them. But her fist didn't meet Hicks' hand – instead it slugged him hard on the jaw. Ripley had only mentioned the game to have the other let his guard down, diverting his attention downwards so that she could take him out unprepared. Hicks dropped like a deadweight - Ripley caught the unconscious form before it crashed on the deck.

"I'm sorry Hicks, but I don't have time to make you see it my way! You didn't want to understand; it _has_ to be me!" She put the soldier whom was out cold in a chair before she turned to the others. "Get to the _Athena_ and get her space-worthy. Keep a look-out and wait for me as long as you deem you can, and then get off this planet. I'll be back with Newt, or I won't be back at all!"

Ripley didn't wait for any objections – she went straight for the double-set of doors out of the ambulance.

"Wait!" Adrienne shouted. "You can't go out there without a _hazard-suit!"_ But the woman was already gone, not caring about any protection gear. "Why do I bother?" the doctor grumbled.

* * *

Newt's eyes fluttered open, as she was slowly coming back to the land of the living. She wasn't entirely sure she was alive however… there was a heavy weight on her chest, and she had trouble breathing. Her movements were also quite limited, and she ached everywhere. But it didn't take long for her to comprehend her whereabouts…

Her predicament had nothing to do with the explosion that had overwhelmed her… she couldn't move simply because there was another body lying heavily on top of her, pressing her down to the floor. Newt started to remember… _that_ was what had slammed into her, not the wall of fire.

Colonel Benelli had been a corrupted man, having surrendered to some very questionable ethics. But he had never let go of his military nature, which was to serve his country and protect all civilians. He could never condone with exploiting an innocent little girl for their own benefit, and he could never really stomach the consequences the work for acquiring these monsters had brought. So many people dead…

The old officer had seen it as poetic justice when the research tower blasted off into the sky, but he had never expected it to drop down on their doorstep. The other staff members had fled when the catastrophe became apparent, but Benelli still had his sense of duty. The young civilian present had to be protected! When the rocket came down, Benelli had thrown himself onto Newt to shield her small frame with his own mass and thereby he took the full force of the explosion. The valiant action had cost him his life.

Newt knew that the old man had given his life for her, but she still couldn't help but to feel repulsed by having a dead body on her. She started to wriggle, working herself out from underneath the dead weight. By continuously pushing and crawling, she managed to squirm herself free. Standing up, she took a moment to evaluate her physical condition: she was naturally quite shaken up from her near-death experience. She was bruised down under her skin here and there, and probably had two or three black and blue marks. It would have been worse if she hadn't had her mechanics coverall on that had once been her friend Fixer's spare uniform – but those were only rags now. Some of her limbs were numb, but that had been because of the dead man blocking some her blood flows while lying on her. Minor cuts on other places, but nothing serious. Her ears were ringing badly though after the explosion. But nothing broken, which meant that during the circumstances, she had fared quite well thanks to Benelli's sacrifice.

Not that it mattered in the end. She felt the breeze from the winds of Acheron blowing into the ruined conference room from the now non-existing window – and with it: the radioactive particles that was swimming all over the planet. She was being irradiated even now, knowing that a long-term exposure would result in death. For some reason she did not feel any anxiety or worry for it – only a calm resignation.

A sound behind her made her turn around – she wasn't the only survivor on this floor. Taking support on the burnt data-console which she earlier had sat down before when accessing the disc, Jacob McHagen worked himself up to his feet. He had been standing farthest away when the explosion broke through the window, but he had not been protected in any way… he was in far worse shape than Newt was, and yet he had fared better than his assistant Spencer. The young aid lay sprawled against the console just as dead as Benelli, although he'd perished even earlier. When the taut umbilical line had heaved the deck and thrown everybody off their feet, Spencer had fallen backwards and had hit the back of his head badly against the edge of the console. His neck had been broken. McHagen had kept himself from falling badly, but the explosion afterwards had wounded him considerably. The left side of his body had taken the worst of the blast: his left arm was lifeless - it lay close to his body, bent upwards at the elbow and with a limp hand hanging motionless from the wrist. His left leg was stale… how he found the strength to support his weight on it was beyond comprehension. His face was the worst to look at though. The hair had been burned down to the scalp, leaving the flesh singed. His glasses were hanging askew from the bridge of his nose, the lenses broken. A shard from the left lens was sticking out of a bloodied pulp that used to be his eye. The rest of his skin was so burned raw-red that Newt couldn't tell what was flesh and what was flowing blood.

McHagen's clothing revealed that several shards from the broken window had plunged straight through the fabric of his suit and had perforated his body, lodging themselves within his meat. And to think that he used to _like_ glass! There were going to be a lot of changes after this. And yet despite his wounds, he seemed to have other priorities in mind. He was fumbling with the smoking computer console with his still working right hand, digging underneath a loose panel. He found what he was looking for, but he could only grimace as he examined the object he had so coveted above his own welfare. The disc with all the secrets of the xenomorphs… it was cracked and burned. The computer had overloaded and had fried all of its components, including the disc. It was totally useless. He wheezed in anger and disappointment as he dropped it on the floor.

"I hope you're _happy_ now!" he rasped sarcastically.

"I no longer know what it means to be happy," Newt replied solemnly.

"Not thinking of _gloating?_"

"Who do you think I am?!" Newt returned feeling angered and indignant. "I find no pleasure in all this death and destruction!"

"Yet you took an instrumental part in _doing_ this to me!" McHagen spat, stumbling closer to the child and being completely ignorant to the fact that he was leaking blood.

"You're blaming _me?!"_

McHagen raised a shaking index digit towards her. "_You_… and your friends… did this to _stop_ my research of the xenomorphs!"

Newt shook her head sadly. "Even after all that has happened, you still don't understand… you had _already_ lost! There is no way to get control of the monsters! I _told_ you that from the _start!_ Even with the disc, you'd _never_ be able to contain them! _Every_ attempt to do that in the past… _every single one_… all ended up with everybody _dying! _Don't you get it? What was done with the rocket was an attempt to _save_ you!"

McHagen scoffed. "You call all this _saving_ us?!"

"The rocket wasn't supposed to crash down here. The aliens were responsible for that…"

"The way _I _see it: the rocket never _would've_ crashed if your friends had not made it to take off in the _first_ place!" The commander had despite his wounds advanced closer to her, taking support on the conference table with his good hand while dragging his stale leg after him, trailing a river of his red life fluids on the floor. Newt backed away along the opposite side to keep the distance. She was certain he would strangle her if he got his still working hand on her.

"It _had_ to be done!" the girl said. "Those creatures would only bring _death_ to whatever they'd come in contact with! Weyland never wanted to understand that, and neither did Carter Burke! Colonel Decker didn't even care! But their ignorance eventually killed all of them, and it _will_ be the death of you too! Why can't you understand? You _don't_ pursue these creatures – you stay _away_ from them as far as you can!"

"That argument is getting tiresome!" McHagen wheezed as he reached the end of the table and coming closer to the broken window. "You're _blinded_ by your hatred for them!"

"And you're blinded by your _greed!_" Newt spat back.

"The creatures are the _future!_"

"There _is_ no future with them! Only death!" Newt looked at the commander sternly. "How many more people are you prepared to let die before achieving your goals?"

McHagen shook his head. "It is unnatural the way you talk like an adult. But you're still as _stubborn_ as the little brat you are! Some sacrifices are _necessary!_ And for the greater good of mankind, I'm willing to let a _thousand_ die to gain control of this species! It's a small price to pay!"

Newt's insides turned to ice. "You're a _madman!_" she whispered. "It's as my dad once said; you company people really _are_ the _true_ monsters!"

"The benefits we'll gain _outweighs_ the losses we'll suffer along the road! There's nothing monstrous about that! What is monstrous is that by interfering in our business, you and your friends have made the lives already lost into a waste! They've died for _nothing!_"

"They _wouldn't_ have died if you had heeded our warnings and stayed _away_ from the creatures!" Newt retorted.

"Enough of this nonsense!" McHagen growled. He stumbled towards the broken window. "You've caused me a major setback, but not all is lost! We still have that!" He was gazing out at the U-shaped derelict. "The disc said it is the power-source of that craft that holds the key to contain the creatures. We'll just have to harness that power, and then we'll clone some new specimens from the dead eggs still stored in the bowels of that ship. One way or another; the creatures _will_ be mine!"

"They will be the _death_ of you!" Newt repeated.

He turned around towards her, putting his back against the view over the derelict. "Don't you ever get tired of that doomsday talk?"

"N-no, really…" she said as she started to tremble and her eyes going wide. "They _will_ be the death of you!"

They were no longer alone. From the top of the ragged frame of the broken window, three xenomorphs peered inside, clinging to the exterior. Newt wasn't at all surprised to see that some had escaped the doomed rocket, and that the radioactive atmosphere didn't affect them the least. But their presence was enough to make her terrified. It was weird that she didn't scream.

It was unknown if McHagen felt a presence behind him, or if was because the child was looking at his direction with fear. Either way, he turned his head upwards… and that was the last thing he did before a powerful arm came down and a hand with six fingers grabbed on to his face. McHagen let out a muffled cry as he was suddenly pulled upwards and out through the window. For a moment, his legs could be seen dangling in despair in midair from below the upper edge of the frame before those too were pulled out of sight, and the supreme commander of the United Systems Military Special Research Department was gone.

But the other two xenomorphs were still present. They climbed into the room; their eye-less faces turned against the little girl. Newt backed off, but she tripped over the body of colonel Benelli and fell. Sitting on her buttocks now, she desperately crawled backwards, eyes wide with fear. The aliens followed her.

"No… no…" she whimpered. She didn't want to die by their hands. Anything but that! Her back soon hit the computer console, right next to the body of assistant Spencer, leaving her nowhere to go. The aliens came closer, hands outstretched to grab her, and that's when she started to scream…


	37. The imminent destruction

Ripley didn't have that much of luck on her side when entering the habitat complex through a broken segment of the 'terrace house'-modules. While the row of modules leading to the docking port of the lander looked relatively intact from the outside, the insides revealed quite some significant damage. There were support beams that laid strewed around the deck, and many power conduits that had short-circuited were still smoking and even burning. That meant that many of the sealed blast doors leading to the command tower were inoperable.

Before she attempted to force those doors, Ripley called out the girl's name. She got no reply, nor any other indication that there were any other living people here this close to the lander. She would therefore have to move further into the ruined complex.

The first door was easy to move aside without resistance, allowing her entrance to the next module. It was as she approached the next barrier when she heard the muffled commotion. She could make out a few sentences:

"Get it open!"

"I'm trying!"

"Pry the bar in there!"

The next door seemed to have fused itself shut due to some electrical failure, and on the other side of it she could hear survivors banging on the barrier, trying to force it open. It was apparent that the bunch of people behind the door didn't have the leverage or the muscle-power to shove the door aside – it would require a corresponding taskforce to level out the pressure from her side to overcome the failed mechanics. Ripley was only one person compared to the unknown number of people behind the barrier – but her muscular strength was beyond ordinary. Hooking her fingers to some cracks in the door, she began to pull with her alien enhanced power… and the door came open. She stood face to face with a bunch of soldiers: six of them. She wasn't happy to see them, nor where they any more happy to see her. She had after all tried to kill all of them earlier on a few occasions.

"Oh no! Not _you!_" one blurted out.

They all backed away as Ripley stepped through the door, expecting that she would attack them. But the woman wasn't there for them. In fact: she would do them no harm as long as they didn't get in her way. A quick sweep with her eyes revealed that Newt was not among them. Most of these grunts were unfamiliar to her, except for Major Metzger. As he was the highest ranked among them, she turned to him.

"I'm looking for Newt!"

"Who?" the major asked.

"The little girl. Rebecca Jorden. Where is she?"

Being as hardcore a military that Metzger was, he was not willing to be so forthcoming. "You are _not_ in position to demand any information of the united systems military! I'll tell you nothing!"

Feeling anger overwhelm her, she grabbed on to the collar of the major and pulled him close to her own person, growling in his face. Something unexpected happened. The last events had obviously taken too much of a toll on the major, because when the woman threatened him, his hardcore military façade broke apart. He literally started to cry. "_All right, I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything, just don't hurt me again! Please don't hurt me!_"

"I've asked you my question! So _answer_ it!"

Metzger sniffled. "You can't hold us responsible. All we know is that she somehow made her way over to the other complex…"

"She _returned_ here from there!"

"If she did, then that's something I know nothing about!" Metzger whined. Ripley was surprised to find that she believed him.

"Then who _would_ know?" she demanded. She still hadn't let go of the major.

"Most likely the brass," some other soldier said. "The rest of us grunts never get to know such details unless we have a need to know."

"And where can I find _them_?"

The soldier hesitated before answering. "They're usually up in the conference room together with the supreme commander… and since _we_ don't know anything about the girl, it's possible that if she really did come back here and if the staff knows about that, then she might be… well, maybe with them!"

The words chilled Ripley's bones. She knew that the conference room was the middle floor of the tower, and the tower was the structure that had taken the full force of the exploding rocket. "Did you find any survivors from there?"

"We don't know as we can't get there," one of the other soldiers confessed. "The elevator is inoperable, and the stairwell is blocked. But we've already written them off as lost - that's why we're getting out of here! But if you want, you can go there and find out for yourself. If there's nothing else you want from us, we'll just be on our way to the lander so that we can fly out of this hellhole! We won't stop you as long as you're not trying to stop us! Okay?"

For reasons she couldn't fully grasp, these soldiers disgusted her. Maybe it was because they were more interested in running rather than staying behind to help their comrades. Whatever it was, they would be of no help, and Ripley felt that she did not want them around. So she half-hurled Major Metzger aside and went on, ignoring them. That was fine with the survivors. They ran through the recently breached opened door and headed straight for the lander. They had a clear path now.

Ripley was just coming into the middle section of the complex when she stopped, feeling something in the back of her mind. Her alien sensations were picking up something from far behind her - the presence of two xenomorphs. They were nowhere around her, so she sort of felt the drama unfold rather than witnessing it with her eyes. She could feel an anticipation – the discovery of a small group of prey escaping into a small 'cave'. The xenomorphs followed, intending to capture them all for the new hive.

There were no caves here. That could only mean that the two aliens which she was picking up the thoughts from had discovered the fleeing soldiers as they escaped into the lander, and the creatures were following them. She could hear in the distance how the landing-craft started, uncoupling itself from the docking port and taking off. Via the mental link she had with the alien stowaways on the lander, she could perceive how the escaping soldiers suddenly panicked as they discovered that they were not alone onboard. Chaos ensued… prey was overpowered and ripped apart. But she could also tell how the equilibrium of the small enclosed space became destabilized, and g-forces took effect as the landing craft went into a spin.

And then in just a blink of an eye, it was all over. Ripley could hear an explosion coming from the outside, feeling the ground vibrate from an impact. The mental link she'd had with the two xenomorphs were instantly extinguished as they perished in the crash, together with Major Metzger and the rest that had attempted to flee for their lives, but in the end did not get very far.

There wasn't anything Ripley could have done for them, neither did she find any reason to take a moment to feel any remorse for those people. With the mental equivalent of a shrug, she went on with her own task.

* * *

Meanwhile the ambulance had got around to the back of the humanitarian ship, and Paige Rogers expertly guided the tractor into position to the vertical track mounted to the hull like if she had done nothing else in her life. The vehicle hooked on to the rack and was carried upwards like an elevator until it settled on the top next to its counterpart and was locked in place. The passengers disembarked the ambulance and boarded the _Athena_ \- some walking, some half-carried. Hicks had almost regained consciousness after having been knocked out by Ripley, but the female Airman had to support him as he stumbled out. Johner had to assist Dr. Kinloch with guiding the blinded Zack Ryan out, something he was not at all happy about. Adrienne made sure to bring the box with the cat with her. They were greeted by some of the medical staff that had been left stuck on the ship.

"Dr. Kinloch!" said the nurse whom earlier had a little run-in with Ripley. "What a relief to see you again!"

"It's good to be back," the doctor greeted in the return. "How are you all doing over here?"

"We're undamaged, but we're completely cut off from the rest of the base. It's a good thing we run on an independent power source, or we'd be trapped in the dark. But I'm not sure if we're completely safe…"

"What's wrong?"

"I think… we have an intruder aboard!"

That made Hicks look up. "You _think_ you have an intruder aboard?" he asked while massaging his sore jaw. "Do you or don't you?"

The nurse wasn't sure whether to answer as Hicks was a stranger to her. Adrienne picked up the thread instead while she handed over Zack Ryan to some of the other medical assistants. "Well, who is he?"

"I… I'm not even sure _what_ he is!" the nurse stammered. "He.. or _it_ just showed up from nowhere. But he says he means us no harm."

"And I stand by what I said," a voice was heard from the side. Hicks raised his weapon towards the weird shape that was approaching. It was basically humanoid, but clearly artificial. The limbs were of a mixed composure of clunky pieces of synth-material and titanium rods while the head was no more than a transparent dome of a plastic mask which the bore the basic resemblance of a face. It was a robot of some sorts. The nurse backed away.

"Relax, Hicks," the artificial being said almost jovially, indicating to the corporal's raised rifle. "While my new appearance does look a little unprecedented, surely you don't find it to be threatening to you?"

While the walking machine was unfamiliar, the synthesized voice with its calm tone was no stranger.

"Are you shitting me?" Hicks muttered as he lowered his weapon. "You never cease to surprise me, Bishop! Where'd you get that body?"

"This is an amazing ship," Bishop declared while flexing the artificial arms. "It stands prepared to meet any medical emergency there is."

Adrienne Kinloch put her free hand on her hip, (her other held on to the cat-box), displaying a miffed expression. "You've been pillaging the store-room of cybernetic prosthesis equipment for people who lost body-parts!"

"I took the liberty of programming the auto-doc to assemble a full-body prosthesis in which I could download my personality matrix. It will make it a whole lot easier to interact with you now."

"So _that_ was what you were 'busy' with," Hicks scowled with a hint of accusation. "Got some problems with certain priorities? We could have used your help in the reactor room!"

"Well, I didn't have much of a choice now, did I?" Bishop said. "It obviously didn't occur to any of you that the flight recorder containing my program was inserted to a computer console somewhere in the research complex, and none made the attempt to retrieve it before shooting the rocket up in the sky. If I hadn't taken the action to evacuate myself, I would have been blown up with it."

Hicks felt like someone had hit him again. "_Jesus_, Bishop… I-I'm _really_ sorry! I can't believe that actually slipped my mind! God _damn…!"_

"In the end: no harm done," Bishop calmed the corporal. "It was a necessity that turned out to the best. I must say that it's nice to have a body again. Cybernetic technology have advanced considerably during the two centuries of our absence. I got a spinal-column with working neural cords that carries my brain impulses to the main motor that drives all of my limbs. I got a self-regenerating artificial heart that lubricates my systems and an adjustable vocal box to program my choice of voice. Sure, this is a little different from the synthetic build I was first created with, but the principal is basically the same. I believe that I can make many improvements to this body so that I eventually will be quite like what I once was and…"

Hicks threw up his hand, palm outwards. "Save it, Bishop! I'm glad you're okay and again I apologize for my serious lack of judgement… but as it is, I don't have time for a mechanical fashion report. I'm about to head out back there!"

"Ah, yes. You want to look for Newt."

"You're damn right about that! I would already do so if Ripley hadn't knocked me out, that _blasted_ woman!"

"Considering the circumstances, I think she made the best course of action for all parties when she did."

"What the hell's _that_ supposed to mean?!" Hicks almost raged.

"The plan did not factor in that the research rocket would crash into its sister installation upon its destruction. The impact damaged the habitat complex considerably and has made it structurally unstable. Internal fires and power overloads are burning through the security barriers within the complex as we speak. It won't be long before the chain-reaction of system failures will reach into the main core of the command tower and make the reactor go critical as well. When that happens, it will blow just like it did with the other, destroying everything."

Paige Rogers looked concerned. "If what you're saying is true, then we must leave the surface while we can, or this ship will be caught in the blast as well."

"How long until it goes?" Hicks asked the android.

"That's impossible to predict," Bishop admitted. "We're playing a dangerous game here. It could explode at any time within the next fifteen minutes."

"Then why are we standing around here _talking?!_" Zack Ryan burst out. "Take off _now_, before it's too late!"

"I hate to say it, but I have to agree with the runt," Johner said.

Hicks was troubled. "We can't leave! If there's any chance that Newt is still alive, then we've _got_ to find her!"

"That's why it was better that Ripley went out for her," Bishop said. "She has a better chance to get to her than you would, pressing through blocked passageways with the help of her blended physiology and all that."

Hicks was most displeased to have the same argument thrown in his face again. "So what are _we_ supposed to do, then?!"

"This side of the habitat complex is inaccessible and out of commission," Bishop explained. "I need you people to manually release the moorings and detach the coupling clamps to the docking port of the base. Once that is done, I will fly this ship to the other side of the complex to the other landing pad. We will wait for Ripley there. By the time we're done, she will hopefully already have found the little girl."

"Can we make that time before it blows?" Rogers asked.

The android currently had a blank expressionless face, but his new prosthetic limbs had motor-responses that mimicked a human's perfectly. He displayed a shrug. "That is a gamble we will have to take if we want to get to any survivors and evacuate them."

"You're _crazy!"_ Zack Ryan roared. "If this place is about to blow, then we'll have to get out of here _now!"_

"We're leaving _nobody_ behind!" Hicks stated in reply.

"Why care about those stupid _wenches?!"_ Ryan spat. "We must flee and save _ourselves!_ Who'll miss that crazy broad and that _worthless _brat?!"

It took all of Hicks' self-control to not strike out at the womanhater. "That girl is well worth _ten thousand_ of you!" he growled. "I _warned_ you before that I would not tolerate you insulting that child, and it will be the last time I'm telling you this: Do anyone anything wrong again, I swear; then you _will_ be left behind here to _rot!"_

He turned to the medical people whom were supporting the aversive man. "Get that _asshole_ out of my sight before I do something I'm not supposed to do!"

"Take him down to the infirmary," Adrienne instructed the nurse. "Although he doesn't deserve it, he needs to have the bandages over his eye sockets replaced."

Ryan did not go quietly. He was still screaming that they should evacuate the planet at the earliest convenience and abandon the rest of the people rather than risk being caught in the upcoming explosion. Hicks turned back to Bishop. "All right, we'll do it your way… but do it quickly as we don't have an exact estimate before it goes! You're absolutely sure that the habitat complex will explode?"

They were starting to walk towards the bridge as the android gave his answer. "It's destruction is inevitable, either on its own or it will get vaporized by the blast radius from the other that'll go off."

"What other?"

"I didn't want to say this earlier as I didn't want to add any worry to the other crew-members - I can tell that many people here are too mentally destabilized to handle the tension. We're not facing one explosion, but two – and I have no idea when that's estimated to go off either."

"What is expected to go off besides the complex?!"

"The derelict," Bishop answered the corporal.

"The _derelict?!"_ Hicks questioned. "But it's been dormant and inactive for _centuries!_ Why would it suddenly blow up now?!"

"Because I arranged it to."

"You _what?!_"

"Or rather: I had Keevan Felger to do it following my instructions over the radio. After he was done setting the charges to blow the umbilical line, I had him enter the derelict and go to the bridge. No doubt you discovered that the circular platform there had a specific station at each quarter point when you were there?"

"Yes," Hicks confirmed. "They 'opened' when I was looking for a way to destroy the derelict myself after you failed to crush it with the _Hercules_. One of those quarter points was just an access ramp up on to the platform… but the other 'stations' were the control pit and the hibernation pod just across it that cured me from my radiation poisoning."

"I take it you didn't manage to identify the purpose of the fourth station?" Bishop asked.

"I didn't have the time… and it didn't look anything special to me. Looked like a shrine or something."

"If the control pit is the derelict's brain, the shrine as you describe it is the heart. That station was the main power distributor that regulated the outputs of the main core of the ship. I had plenty of time to examine the controls while we were there together with the '_Rawhides_', and I gained full understanding on how to turn the power in on itself. I just couldn't implement it personally since I had a little obedience problem back then as you recall."

"So you set Keevan Felger to do it?"

"That's right. The core of the derelict is nearly depleted, so I needed to mix what remained of it with another source of power and convert it."

"What kind of power?" Hicks asked.

"Anti-matter! The space Jockey had some of that onboard as well. On its own the original energy which we harvested for the armbands couldn't affect the alloy that is the derelict's hull as it is impervious to it – but with the infusion of anti-matter to the core, I had Keevan Felger convert it to a critical mass that would initiate a chain-reaction that was unleashed to the energy-accumulating alloy and make it into one big bomb. Remember that I said that the energy has the ability to consume matter and convert those into more energy until it gets tremendously overloaded? The anti-matter power is right now consuming the hull of the derelict until it will get so charged with negative energy that it will lose its cohesion and turn into plasma, and that's when it will blow. And considering the size of the derelict, I expect that the explosion will be so powerful that it will destroy the entire plateau, vaporizing everything. Keevan followed my instructions to the letter when he set the shrine, so the destruction is inevitable. It's just sad that he didn't get to live after he was done. I wonder what killed him?"

"No doubt he was caught by a xeno," Hicks speculated.

"Not unlikely," Bishop agreed. "But as you are so fond of saying in the army: he did his job. That counts for something, I suppose."

Hicks gave the synthetic a look. "You are certain that it will happen? Are we really about to see the end of the entire xenomorph species once and for all?"

Bishop attempted to give the other an encouraging look, but with his stale expressionless face, it became somewhat discouraging and weird. The synthetic had to compensate with a more positive tone in his voice. "Well, this _was_ the long-term plan from the start, wasn't it?" the android returned. "The reason we were so willing to sacrifice ourselves two-hundred years ago and why Ripley came back here, to the planet she hates the most: to destroy _everything_ that was ever related to the species we know as Xenomorph XX121. It's about time we _finished_ the job, don't you think?"

"I can't help but to think that if the detonation of the derelict will be as powerful as you say that it will destroy the entire plateau, vaporizing everything within its vicinity, why didn't you have us implement that plan _before_ we went to the reactor room to attach the fuel-lines and send the rocket up in the sky?" Hicks asked a bit testily. That made Bishop stop in his tracks and take a moment to analyze that logic.

"That _would_ have been the best course of action," the android admitted. "Strange that I didn't think of that. Dear, dear... I really _have_ gone computer senile, haven't I?"


	38. Spiritual struggle

Ripley was starting to get really overwhelmed by the disturbing and uncomfortable feeling of anxiety. No matter where she looked, there was no sign of Newt anywhere. Her nerves were beginning to get flooded with the sensation every parent loathed above everything: the sickening feeling of an irretrievable loss. Ripley had felt it too many times already – she could not bear to experience it again. Yet the adult was beginning to fear the worst... but that only made her drive more powerful - she couldn't give up now. She _would_ not give up now! Whatever the outcome, Ripley needed to learn of the child's fate – all other priorities were rescinded.

There was nobody else on the ground floors – Ripley had wanted to make sure of that before she proceeded up to the higher levels of the base. The complex was on the verge of tearing itself apart... several conduits under the floorboards had exploded and were spreading cascades of electrical discharges. It was a good thing the soles of her boots were insulated or she would've been electrocuted walking on the charged deck. But the haywire was going out of control quickly. Much of the insulations were burning and the fire was spreading to other combustible properties, releasing toxic smoke and thus making sight difficult. Had Ripley been a normal human, she would already have suffocated.

Her hopes were kindled as she approached the stairwell leading up the tower. There was another jammed door blocking the passage, but once again she could hear voices behind it, banging desperately on the closed barrier and crying out for help. Just like she'd done before, Ripley grabbed on to the resisting barrier and shoved it aside with all of her strength, releasing the trapped people behind it. Disappointment flowed through her again as she looked over the survivors she had encountered. Just a bunch of older military men this time – three of them, their respective strips revealing them to be high ranked. McHagen's staff members no doubt. But again only adults… no child.

"Err… thank you," Maziq stammered. They knew who she was, but they didn't know what to expect now as they stood face to face with her. Did the woman know that she stood before the people whom had arranged for her to be resurrected? Would she be grateful for that, or vengeful?

"Where's Newt?" Ripley demanded. The question took the military men off guard, and for good reason uncomfortable.

"She… she was… up there…" Admiral Henderson said, pointing up the stairs.

The news hit Ripley like a bucket of ice water, and she grew instantly enraged. "You were up there when the rocket came down, and you _didn't_ try to get her out of harm's way?!"

"It… it happened so fast…" the admiral stammered.

Ripley's first initial thought was to rip the officer's head off as she grabbed on to the collar of his uniform and pulled him close – but she collected herself quickly. "_Damn you!"_ she snarled and hurled the admiral out of the way and then pushed through the rest of them to rush up the stairs to the higher floors, leaving the staff members behind.

"If she finds the body of the girl up there, she's going to take it out on _us!_" General Berger-Hauser declared.

"Then I suggest that a tactical withdrawal is in our best interest," Lieutenant Colonel Maziq continued. "Like to the landing bay?"

"Sounds like a reasonable plan to me," the admiral agreed.

* * *

Ripley stormed out into the ruined conference room on the second floor with her heart pounding in her chest, her eyes immediately darting back and forth over the disaster area.

"Newt! _Newt!_"

There was no reply, nor any sight of anybody being up there at all. There were plenty of traces of people having been there though. There were pools of blood on at least two areas, indicating that there had been victims dying on those spots, and there were even more blood leaving a trail over the glass shards on the floor leading to the broken window… but there were no bodies visible. Ripley had a pretty good idea what had happened to the dead: she could smell it. There was a scent among the vapors of burned materials that had a distinctive stench… the foul smell of aliens! They had been here and had collected the bodies - not as hosts as they couldn't use dead meat to incubate any new young… but the dead provided a good source for sustenance.

It was impossible to determine who the people were who had died up here, but judging from the silhouettes on the deck where the litter of shards and rubble wasn't as concentrated, the woman could tell that those had been bigger masses – adults, laying in those areas. There wasn't any space that would indicate that a child had been caught by the blast, so the question rose: had she walked away on her own, or had she been _carried_ away? Ripley didn't want to believe the girl had been abducted – she had made a deal with the queen: the girl was not to be touched! But there was never any guarantee that the xenomorphs would keep to the bargain.

"Oh God… where are you, baby?" she mumbled, close to despair. Okay, Newt was not on this floor… but there was one more level. The top floor above her that used to be McHagen's office. Rushing back to the stairwell, she sprinted up to the upper level. To her dismay as she stepped out there, it looked just as deserted as the one below. It wasn't as messy up here – the explosion from the crashed rocket hadn't gone through these walls as there were no visible windows. But McHagen's office still bore some of the chaos from her earlier rampage. The glass walls she had broken hadn't been replaced, and although the shards had been swept up, it looked like the commander had only made a half-hearted attempt to make the office hospitable again.

The blast hadn't gone through here, but many electrical equipments were short-circuited just like they were over the rest of the complex. There was smoke up here and hardly any light. It was still illuminated enough for Ripley to see that there was nobody up here either.

"Newt." she half-wailed, burying her face in the palm of her hand. She sagged against the wall, close to breaking down. This was the exact feeling she had felt when she had gone down the atmosphere processing station of Hadley's Hope going after the child when she had earlier been abducted by the aliens. The despair she felt now was similar to the one she had experienced when she had found the torn-off tracer bracelet Newt had carried back then, and she thought that the girl was lost. Now it was happening all over again. "Oh, Newt," she sobbed.

"What are you _doing _here?" the girl's voice was suddenly heard. Jacob McHagen's big chair stood with its back turned against the entrance, and Newt's face was peering out from the side, her small frame having been completely concealed by the backrest.

Ripley almost flew across the whole room, ending up right beside the big chair in which Newt was sitting, the adult's hands instantly seeking out the child's scrawny body to confirm that she really was there. Relief washed over her. "Newt! Are you okay? You're all right?"

The child appeared to be fine, although Ripley was concerned with how thin and pale she looked. The young looked very perplexed by the adult's insistent inquiries. "I… I'm not sure…"

Relief went away and was once again replaced with tension. "Not sure? What do you mean? You're not hurt, are you?"

The girl's blue eyes was focused on the other, but her facial expression was as indifferent as it had been the first time they had met two centuries earlier. "I'm dying," she finally replied, and Ripley's insides grew instantly cold.

"What makes you say that?" the woman croaked.

"I've been exposed to the radiation," Newt said neutrally. "It will kill me – either that, or the explosion will kill me first. I'm not stupid: I know that the fires will eventually get to the fuel-tanks of this rocket as well and blow it sky-high. But I'm fine with it."

"We can still get out of here! We can still scrub you down. You can go through decontamination…"

"No. Ripley, I want this."

"Why?"

"Because there's nothing left for me. Everything's gone. I've got nothing to live for." This was delivered coolly and without feelings. She was definitely back the way she were like from their first meeting – a child that had lost all forms of hope. Ripley felt helpless.

"Sweetie, please don't give up like this…"

The girl looked at the other sharply, yet her tone was still flat and neutral. "Why shouldn't I? There's no place for me anywhere! Not even the aliens want me! I thought they would take me… t-they reached out for me… but then they took the dead bodies instead and just left, like I was nothing to bother with." The girl averted her eyes, and instead focused them on her knees. "It's my curse… I'm doomed to always be alone – to be left by everybody I ever cared for… I tried to escape it by asking McHagen to put me back in the freezer. I was much better off there."

Ripley kept quiet, letting the child do all the talking. It was apparent that Newt was guilt-struck. The woman knew that the girl was in the mood for a complete confession, and it was best to let her get it out of her systems. Psychologically, Ripley knew, was that once the troubled found the will to talk, they would want to release the burden they carried completely.

"I shouldn't have _done_ it!" the girl said in a sob. "I've been _bad!_ I gave McHagen access to the disc! And by doing that, I _betrayed_ my people! Everyone I ever cared for was killed by the monsters, but instead of avenging them by keeping the disc out of the Company's hands, I gave in to my _own_ selfishness! I can't _live_ with it!"

Newt looked up again. "It's my punishment to be forever exiled on this accursed planet… I know that I'm supposed to die here all alone! I've _always_ known it! That's why I'm going to sit right _here_, and wait for death to come for me! Let's just get it over with!"

With a shove against the desk that stood next to the chair, she rotated herself a quarter circle away from the woman… then she curled up into a fetal position against the back-rest and turned her own back against the adult. "You should go, Ripley… get out of here and save yourself. Leave me."

Ripley shook her head, even though the child couldn't see it. "No… I'm not going anywhere. My place is here."

"Don't be silly," the young said without turning around. "If you stay, you die too."

Ripley made her own confession. "I was planning to end it anyway after all of this was over. I'm just like you, honey – I too don't belong anywhere in this galaxy. Destroying the aliens was the only thing I had to live for, my reimbursement for all the wrongs I've done to this universe. Once those debts are paid, there's nothing more for me. Only death."

"What debts?"

"The dealings with the xenomorphs brings out the worst of what is in us people, no matter what side you're on. After the aliens came into my life, I've done a number of bad things of which I am not proud – many of them unintentional perhaps, but also some that were deliberate. But I did them anyway in order to survive the best I could, just like you did when you surrendered the disc to the military. Yes, I understand perfectly well what compelled you to do it… and I don't blame you. It was unavoidable that you would do something that you never really wanted to do. It was an error, but an understandable one. And if it helps: I forgive you. And I'm sure your people would too."

The girl didn't move - neither did she say anything… but Ripley sensed that she had the child's full attention.

"What you did was but a minor mistake compared to that which is my greatest shame… the wrong I did to you! It was never my intention to do you the pain I caused you… and then I abandoned you even though I had promised that I would never leave you. I failed you, child. I failed you big time. But I have no intention of doing so a _second_ time! _That_ is the debt I owe _you!"_

She took a risk with stretching out her hand and gently caressed the arm of the other. "This time I'll _stay_ with you, through the very end if that is what you want! Because there is one thing I do know: dying alone isn't that very comforting - but dying together with a friend makes it a whole lot easier. I told you this before, Newt, but I want you to know it again… I _love_ you! I wouldn't hesitate to give up my life for you! And if that is what it's going to cost me here and now, I'll gladly pay it, because I will _never_ leave you again! I _swear_ it!"

Finally the girl slowly turned her face towards the adult, mostly to look for a lie in the other. She did after all possess the ability to see through anything remotely phony. What she found though in the woman's eyes were not deceit, but determination. Newt saw nothing of the ferocious, ice-cold glare of her other entity which had been prominent in the holo-picture McHagen had shown that had scared her. She saw only the human that was Ripley, the one she had admired and loved.

"You… really mean it?" she asked carefully. "You'll stay?"

"Cross my heart," Ripley said. "And hope to die," she then added.

Newt regarded the adult for a moment… it wasn't Ripley's word that was convincing her, but the action she was willing to take – to stay with her, no matter what peril that would befall her. Newt's lower lip began to tremble and her eyes to brim. The indifferent expression she had carried fell away and was replaced with the more natural look of a lost child that was desperate to find her way home, wherever that was. And then she threw herself into Ripley's arms and began to cry. That's when Ripley broke down too as she embraced the little body tightly, savoring the moment of finally being able to hold the child in her arms again.

"I'm so _sorry_, baby," the woman told the girl with a trembling voice as she rocked her. "I'm so sorry for _everything!_"

Newt decided right there then that the past didn't matter anymore, not now at the end of things. If they were to die here together, then they might as well do it with a clear conscience. Her reply was therefore something that made Ripley's whole world more complete.

"I forgive you too, Mommy."

That's when Ripley was suddenly pulled away.

* * *

Ripley wasn't pulled away physically. Her body was still in the supreme commander's ruined office, holding the child – her daughter – in a tight uninterrupted hug. But her _mind_ was being dragged somewhere else, pulled deep into the bowels of her own subconsciousness totally against her will, with no ability to fight the power that held her essence in a psychic leash that was reeling her in to where she didn't know.

Finally the pull stopped and her feet were standing on solid ground – or what better description you could use. Ripley had been pulled down deep into her own brain, standing in an environment which she believed had been conjured up from one of her own memory threads – or was it really hers? She was standing in a rocky wasteland under a night-sky – and for a short moment she believed that she had somehow been transported out into the vast landscape of LV-426… But no – she knew that she was in the bowels of her own brain, and she knew that she was not alone.

Turning slightly to her left, Ripley came face to face with an incarnation of herself – or rather a twisted image that was a dark reflection of her own essence. The incarnation she faced was an amalgam of a human and a xenomorph, mixed together to a gruesome-looking entity. The face was hers, but the eyes were sickly yellow with dark reptilian irises, and the teeth in the other's mouth were of the color of chrome silver. The other had no hair, but a crested shield which looked like a smaller version of an alien queen's crown that was standing up from the dome of the skull.

The other was as gracious in body as Ripley, but with her rib-bones lying outside of her torso rather than within, and several horns standing out from the segmented layers of insect-like armor. Her long, sinewy arms ended with talons as fingers that were sharp enough to cut through steel. Four dorsal horns stood out from the other's back, together with the traditional scorpion tail that belonged to the xenomorphs. Most of the chitinous hide was as black as an alien's, but the face was still as pale as a human's. Ripley knew that this was none other than Raksha, the dark entity of herself that was the imprint left behind by the queen she had carried during her resurrection. It was without a doubt _her_ doing that Ripley had been brought here into the bowels of her own mind. The demon twin of herself looked most displeased.

"- You're choosing _her?!"_ Raksha growled, flexing her long fingers in an uncontrollable rage. "- You were _not_ supposed to choose her!"

"Did you really think that I would just discard her like she was nothing?" Ripley retorted.

"- Do you really think that she will accept you in the long run?" Raksha shot back. "- The metamorphosis is still progressing through your body – you didn't stop it, you only slowed it down. Once the transformation is complete and you in the end will look like I do, do you think that she will _stay_?"

"In a few hours it won't matter," the human replied.

"- That was not part of the deal!" the demon spat. "- In exchange for the girl's life, you were to stay _here_ and allow me to take our rightful place as the queen mother of the aliens! You are _breaking_ our bargain!"

"I'm breaking it, but only because _you_ broke it first!" Ripley snapped back. "We're sharing my head – your thoughts are no secret to me! I know that it was _you_ who made a telepathic contact with that advanced alien out there, telling it where it could find Keevan Felger so that it could _kill_ him before he could blow the umbilical land-cable! You _wanted_ the research rocket to come down crashing because you were _hoping_ that the explosion would kill off Newt! You attempted to double-cross _me_ as well like we did to the queen! The bargain included Newt's safe passage off this planet, but you were trying to _prevent_ that!"

Raksha didn't try to hide it. "- I knew that if the girl was to be left alive, you would never give yourself completely to us! You're too _infatuated_ with her! I couldn't risk having you looking for a way to go after her even after she'd left… but if she were dead, you would have no reason to leave!"

"You alien queens are as devious as you are dishonorable!" Ripley snarled. She knew that by saying these words, she was treading the path towards the main event. It was coming down to the battle of the mind. Raksha was no longer accepting to be in the position of the backseat driver – she was seeking total domination by whatever means necessary. Whoever would win the engagement here would be the main personality while the other would be cast down to the darkest regions of the brain with no way of getting back up. Well… so be it.

"It was _never_ your intention to allow any of the people here to leave!" Ripley challenged the other. "Not me… not Newt… not even Hicks and the rest!"

"- Why let such good potential hosts go to waste by letting them go? I _need_ them for my new hive! For our new _children!_"

"Not _my_ children!" Ripley shot back. "They'll _never_ be mine!"

"- You'll be their mother whether you like it or _not!_" Raksha barked. And before Ripley could comprehend what was happening, yellow-white tentacles that bore the resemblance of the tails the facehuggers had suddenly shot up from the ground around her and those wrapped tightly around her limbs, pulling her down on her back onto the rocky surface that suddenly was like soft dirt under her.

"What is this?" Ripley cried out as she was overwhelmed.

"- This is me taking control," Raksha said with a glee, grinning with her chrome silvery teeth. "- If you won't give in freely, I will simply take you out of the equation by tying you up in your own subconsciousness, burying you alive! And once you are out of the way, _I'll_ be the dominant essence in this body!"

"No! Never!" Ripley shouted, struggling against the tentacles that bound her, and which she felt was pulling her down into the ground.

"- Don't get so emotional, Ellen – it's all over for you now! Accept it! As I am assuming control of our shared physiology, the metamorphosis will continue… and once it is finished, we will be _perfect! _The perfect mother of the new generation of our superb race! The next step in our evolution!"

Ripley concentrated while Raksha was bragging. This was after all _her_ mind as well as the other's – that meant that whatever were around here was at her disposal as well. One of the tentacles suddenly uncoiled itself from Ripley's thigh and lashed out at the demon, wrapping itself around Raksha's neck.

Raksha gagged and snarled, but then she put both of her hands around the thin tail-looking tendril, dug in with her claws and ripped it off.

"- Is that the full extent of your imagination?" the demon mocked the woman as she pulled off the remains of the tentacle from her shoulders. Ripley concentrated again, sending another tentacle to bind the other… but this time Raksha lashed out with her tail, allowing her bladed tip to cut off the tendril before it reached her. "- If that's all you got, then you've got _nothing!_ Just like you are nothing compared to my species!"

The tentacle that was wrapped around Ripley's own neck tightened, making her feel like she was choking. She was starting to feel the dust of the ground creep up towards her face as she was continuously sinking down into the earth, being pulled by the tendrils.

"- It is _unbelievable_ that you've managed to survive for this long, but now you reached the end of your journey," Raksha continued while smiling wickedly. "- You will be trapped down here and never be found – and never be able to interfere with my plans! As for your friends, I will _kill_ them all, starting with little Newt! Oh, don't worry… I won't make her into a host – you see, the metamorphosis will require some enormous energy… therefore I have decided to simply… _devour_ her! Since you want her to be part of your life, that's quite some joining, isn't it?"

Ripley suddenly became still as she looked at the demon with a strange expression. "Thank you for saying that," she then declared. Raksha was perplexed by the choice of words. "By telling me what you are planning to do to Newt, you reminded me of who I really _am!_ Ever since my rebirth on the _Auriga_ I've been trying to get on with my life and my quest as a human… but that didn't work out any good at all. But now I remember – I'm _more_ than that!"

"- What _are_ you, then?" Raksha asked suspiciously.

Ripley squinted her eyes. "I'm a _mother!_"

To Raksha's astonishment, the ground she stood on suddenly started to shake violently. The rock beneath the demon's feet cracked and began to open.

"You've made a critical _mistake,_" Ripley announced as she made a tug with her right arm and managed to uproot the tendril that was wrapped around her limb, granting her some new mobility. "I just got Newt back! Right now in the real world, I'm holding her in my arms! More even, she has admitted me to be her mother again – she's my _baby!_"

She now wrenched her other arm loose. "You're arrogance made you forget the power she has over me! Call could never completely tame my rage – but Newt is my anchor, my strength, my ray of light! I told you that before: I will _never _allow you to harm my child! Never _ever!"_

A deep crevice where smoke streamed from had opened behind the demon. The ground was still shaking, so Raksha nearly lost her balance and almost fell in. She looked over at the woman with a mixture of confusion and resentment.

Ripley cleared herself of all tentacles that had bound her and she climbed out of the shallow pit that was meant to become her grave, facing the embodiment of her darker spirit. "How's this for imagination?" she then asked.

From the smoking tear in the ground, a new pair of human hands shot up and grabbed on to Raksha's thigh. Gazing through the mist, the demon couldn't believe what she saw. It was another Ripley! Not the one she was battling, but an earlier incarnation of the woman. This was the warrant officer of the _Nostromo_, the version who was the first to encounter the aliens. But the most significant reason behind her sudden appearance was that she too was a mother. She had been most looking forward to get back to her daughter; a child named Amanda. But that wish had been derailed when the aliens came into her life. Now she wanted payback!

The warrant officer did not come alone: the next incarnation of Ripley's life also came up now and grabbed onto Raksha's other leg. The one who was suffering through grief for losing Amanda, but who found a new daughter in little Newt. Like the current version, she too would do anything to protect the girl.

Raksha was screaming now as she felt herself being pulled down into the crevice. "- Aaargh! What have you done?!"

"You claim to be a mother," the current Ripley said. "But you're only _pretending_ to be! In reality, you never had a single child of your own! _I_ on the other hand have been several kinds of a mother, both through moments of joy and through grief!"

A third incarnation of Ripley now appeared from the crevice and joined in on the bundle of beings by grabbing on to the demon's neck: the bald version from the prison planet of Fiorina, the one that had lost another child to the aliens. Raksha was now being pulled deeper into the crevice, with no hope of getting out.

"- You can't _do_ this!" the demon cried as she clawed desperately on the ground to find new leverage to fight against the pulling forces. "- Think about what you're giving up! We can have _thousands_ of children – you can't just give them all up for a simple girl… she is only _**one!**_"

"That's right," Ripley confirmed. "She is only one – therefore she is _unique!_ The _only_ one of her there'll ever be! That's why she is more valuable than _any_ of your simple drones that is basically the same as the next one! It's because there won't be anyone like her that makes me love her more than anything else – why she is so _precious_ to me! It was the same with Amanda. That is something you xenomorphs will _never_ understand!"

Raksha wasn't willing to just give up the fight. Her scorpion tail lashed, positioning to stab though all of the versions of Ripley and destroy them - and for good measure, she would then kill the current Ripley in the same manner.

But as Ripley could read the mind of the other since they both shared her head, she was prepared for the demon's foul play. She therefore called upon another incarnation of herself to grab on to the tail, and to help pull the demon down into the depths – not one she had been living as personally, but of one who still had a certain impact on her. The twisted misshapen clone labeled as number seven, whom Ripley fried to a crisp with a flamethrower aboard the _Auriga_ together with the rest of her clone 'sisters'. Ripley 8 had not lived their lives, but they had lived hers, so in Ripley's opinion, Ripley 7 was just as part of this as she. The fourth incarnation totally overpowered Raksha whom was now being irreversibly dragged down into her own grave.

Raksha was all in rage now as she realized that she was inevitably losing. "- Graaahhh! This is _not_ over, Ripley! If you will not have me, than you will have _none_ of the advantages that comes with my genes! You won't make it without me! You will soon find that you need me more than anything and then you will beg for my help! I'm _part_ of you, and you'll _never_ be rid of me! _You hear me?!_ YOU WILL NEVER BE RID OF ME!"

"I'll take my chances," Ripley said in goodbye.

Raksha's nails left marks on the rock before she was completely swallowed by the smoke from the crevice, and the demon was gone – vanquished by the incarnations of Ripley's past. With her mind, the woman sealed the tear in the rock and she was all alone. But only on the level of her own subconsciousness – up in the real world, she still had the company of the one living soul that was most important to her, and she now went to rejoin her…

* * *

Newt never noticed what just had happened to Ripley. The brain was a remarkable piece of biological machinery – what had transpired within the woman's mind had gone on no longer than a blink of an eye in the real world. So while everything had changed for Ripley, it hadn't changed anything for the child. The girl was only busy with enjoying the comfort and warmth she was given with the adult hugging her, holding her safely. Newt had so missed this. It felt so easier now when she'd allowed herself to let go of her anger and disappointment with Ripley, especially since she knew all too well that it had never really been her fault. It was because of the aliens, as it always had been.

"I'm sorry for how I treated you, Mommy…"

"There's nothing you need to apologize for, honey… I understand how confusing it was for you. And yet it means the world for me to hear you say that. You would never believe how much you just saved me right now…"

"I didn't mean to run away… It was because of that guy Ryan. When he attacked me, I kind of lost it…"

"Jones gave him what he deserved."

"My own Puss in boots… but he's gone now, isn't he? Both he and Hicks. They died in the rocket. It's too late to apologize to him…"

"No, Newt. They're both still alive, along with the doc."

The girl stiffened in the adult's embrace. "They are?"

"I got Hicks out just in time, and Dr. Kinloch brought Jones. It's not too late – you can still be with them if you want."

Newt disengaged herself from the woman's arms so that she could look the other in the eyes, to scan for a deception. But just like earlier, she found no indication for a lie. She was still for a moment as she registered this new fact.

"Is there still a chance?" Newt finally asked.

"There is," Ripley confirmed. "There's always a chance." The girl finally managed to produce a small smile.

"Okay," the child then said. "Let's get out of here."


	39. Escape or no escape

With Bishop at the controls, the _Athena_ lifted off the ground more graciously than how the research rocket had done. But unlike the former big bulk of a military engine, the humanitarian vessel didn't immediately attempt to head out for space. Instead it floated above the rocky surface with its repulsor engines and glided towards the opposite side of the habitat complex.

"You fly this ship as if you were its natural designed pilot," Hicks commented in wonderment.

"More like its designed auto-pilot," Bishop replied. "When I worked my way into the ship's systems, I accessed the main computer and downloaded the automatic program for the helm into my own memory banks. I also accessed the craft's design schematics... I know every inch of this ship and its flight capabilities."

The soldier took comfort in that. It left him free to worry about other matters. "I sure wish Ripley had at least thought to bring a radio with her." Hicks had no idea if the woman would be waiting for them at the other docking port. Nobody knew what was going on inside the complex.

"Yes. Too bad she somehow lost that ear-piece communicator she had along the way," the android said. "We will have to have confidence in her wits."

"Wits won't do much good when the clock's ticking and you have no idea of the time-frame before it goes boom!"

"You're not nervous, are you?" Bishop asked.

"Of course I am!" Hicks snapped. "No matter how cool I appeared to be on our missions when we served with Sgt. Apone, I am no fool! I am not comfortable with having unknown factors against us!

"Sorry. I suppose being an android that lacks emotions that impairs with your senses for mortality is more of a benefit to me as it doesn't hamper my judgement… or is it a disadvantage that I can't feel any sense of danger? What do you think?"

Hicks sighed. "I think I liked you a lot better before you 'died'!"

"Does that mean you think that I should re-evaluate my actions?"

"It means less talk and more focus on your tasks!"

"I suppose that means: stick to the plan, then?"

"That's one way of putting it."

"I can work with that."

Hicks had no idea where he had Bishop. By changing 'bodies' as often as he had, he had gone through some personality change like if he had left behind something vital in his former incarnations. The obedience directive Weyland had installed in him may be gone, but neither did he have any implanted behavior inhibitor. The android was being more robotically systematic rather than being the adaptable 'synthetic human' now, but one who tended to get easily distracted by new analysis to every new situation he encountered. It appeared the android needed direct instructions from here on, or he might risk deviating from the already laid-down path. Hicks wondered what else might be different with Bishop. It had better not be anything that would put everyone in danger.

As if he was one with the ship, Bishop maneuvered the _Athena_ into place alongside the other docking-port on the opposite side of the complex and began hooking up the docking port to the structure. The external sensors told him that there were people waiting there, but he couldn't tell the identity of those. When all signals turned green after a successful dock, the android was about to throw the switch that would admit the survivors into the ship – but before he could, Dr. Adrienne Kinloch came into the bridge.

"Don't let those people in all the way!" she said in a commanding voice. "Keep them inside between the two hatches!"

"What's going on?" Hicks asked the doctor.

"The complex's structural integrity was compromised when the research rocket crashed down on it. That means that those people whoever they are have possibly been exposed to the radioactive atmosphere. We need to keep them quarantined until they've been scrubbed, or we all risk being contaminated!"

"Okay," Hicks said, having no intention of arguing on that matter. "You're the doc, Doc."

The woman activated a radio and relayed the same instruction down to the main infirmary where the assistant medical staff were working their duty and she instructed them to take care of the survivors.

"I'd better head down there as well," she said as she turned off the radio, and then she put a big box up on top of the console. "But I have to leave the cat with you, Corporal. He wants out of the box, but I can't have him down in the infirmary among all the patients and instruments as he isn't sterile – and I seriously doubt anyone else is that eager to keep an eye on it."

Jones. Newt's cat. He still couldn't understand where the girl had got it from. Well, Hicks supposed when caring as much as he did for the child, he would have to accept that which comes along with her as well. Also, he considered it a bonus that it was another lifeform he could save from the aliens.

Adrienne opened the box and the cat quickly jumped out, quite obviously fed up with being enclosed in such a tight space all the time. He escaped into a corner to groom himself. Hicks didn't let the cat's presence bother him.

"Have you got any idea who it is we admitted into the lock?" the corporal asked the android.

"I've got a visual…" the synthetic replied, showing a live feed on a viewscreen at the side of the helm. "…and I'm afraid that neither Ripley nor Newt is with them. It's only three officers."

"Those are three of McHagen's staff officers," Adrienne reported after coming over to have a look. "I wonder what happened to the other two? Or to McHagen and his assistant for that matter?"

"We will have to question them!" Hicks said. "They might have seen the girl!"

"I'm not sure they'll be very cooperative," Adrienne cautioned.

"We don't need to question them," Bishop intervened. "I'll just scan for Newt's PDT again – if she's somewhere alive in the complex, we'll find her through that. Chances are that Ripley will already be with her."

Hicks had to bite back an angry remark that the android could've done that sooner. It just proved what he already had suspected: Bishop had become too systematic. He wouldn't take another action until the one currently in plan had been either completed or eliminated.

While Bishop made the search with the ship's sensors, Johner was stomping into the bridge.

"Why are we still hanging around here?" the pirate barked.

Hicks was irritated by the newcomer's intrusion. "I told you, we will _not_ leave until we got Ripley and Newt onboard!"

"How do we know we got the _time_ to wait for them?!"

"We don't," Bishop told the pirate neutrally. "For all we know, the complex could blow up at any second depending if the internal fires have reached the fuel-tanks yet." He didn't mention the status of the derelict that was set to self-destruct as well, with another unknown length of fuse.

"I don't _like_ the idea of you playing with our lives like that!"

"Well, get used to the idea," Hicks told him off. "…because we're _not_ leaving until we know of the fate of the girls, and that's final!"

Johner was about to open his mouth to retort when Hicks beat him to it. "And before you get the idea to keep nagging at us about it, don't bother! I'm not going to change my mind about this! Chances are, you'll only result in slowing us down if you're going to keep arguing! So stop pestering us!"

Bishop had busied himself reading the sensors and had allowed Hicks to hold off the frightened pirate – and now he called over his mechanic shoulder: "I've found her!"

"Where?" Hicks immediately demanded to know.

"According to these readings, she's on the top floor of the main tower," Bishop reported.

"In McHagen's office?" Adrienne asked confused. "What's she doing there?"

"What's her condition?" Hicks wanted to know.

"That is something the PDT's that the colonists of Hadley's Hope were provided with cannot determine," the android said, without sounding apologetic as you otherwise would expect. "They were not advanced enough for that. But I can tell you that she is still alive."

Hicks was feeling very relieved to hear those news. "Can we somehow signal to her to come here?"

"I'm afraid not. The main communications circuits were severed when the research rocket crashed. No internal radio within the complex will work. We will have to get to her position ourselves by foot if we want to fetch her."

"We'll do whatever it takes," Hicks said determinately.

"_The heck you will!"_ a new voice suddenly barked. There was a commotion going on at the door to the bridge. The nurse that had greeted them when Hicks and his companions had come aboard was stumbling inside – or to be more precise: she was being _forced_ inside by somebody behind her, who was holding an arm wrapped around her neck tightly enough to choke her. The hand belonging to the arm was holding a scalpel that was pressed to the nurse's throat. The woman was sobbing, frightened out of her wits. Everybody on the bridge froze as they realized that there was a serious threat going on.

"Ryan!" Hicks barked back. "What are you doing?! Unhand that woman!"

"You don't _fucking_ give me orders!" Zack Ryan spat. "No one is to give me orders! You hear me?! _No one!"_

It wasn't just the scalpel that he was holding against the nurse's throat he was armed with. In his other hand he also held a gun. Where'd he got that Hicks didn't know, and right now it didn't matter. What did matter was that the young runt was conducting a hostage situation. Ryan was still blind, so it was obvious that he had forced the nurse to lead him on his way to the bridge.

"Why are you doing this?" Hicks tried again, realizing that he had to be careful not to provoke the lunatic.

"That's a question you should ask _yourself!_" the enraged youngster snarled. "You're keeping us on the ground next to a base that is about to blow up, and now you're taking aboard radioactive people! Are you trying to _kill_ me?! I won't let you do that to me! You will take off _now!_ You will expel the radioactive people and then get us out in space before it blows, damn you!"

"I can't do that," Hicks said. "There are still survivors here that we must…"

"Don't take me for a fool, you _son of a bitch!_ I know that you are staying for that Ripley wench and the little whore brat! I don't _care_ if they die! They're nothing but worthless _trash_, like _all_ bitches are! But if you care about females so much, then care about _this_ one – because if you don't take off now, _I'll cut her damn throat!_" Just to prove his point, he pressed the scalpel against the nurse's throat and pricked her skin, drawing blood. The nurse wailed in pain and fright, pleading for her life.

"_Shut up!"_ Ryan screamed in her ear. "I've _had it_ with bitches speaking out of turn! You'll say _nothing_ unless I say! _You hear? Nothing!_"

"Let her go!" Adrienne spoke up. "She's done nothing to you!"

"_You shut up too!"_ the runt roared and pointed the gun towards Adrienne's direction. "That damn wretch of a cat may have blinded me, but I can still _hear!_ I'll kill you if you open your fucking mouth again! I swear!"

Hicks tried negotiating again. "Put the gun down, Ryan, and let the nurse go. Then we can talk!"

"You don't get it, do you?" the other snarled, following the corporal's voice and pointing the gun at that direction. "_I'm_ giving the orders now! And I order you to take off! _Now!"_

"Don't do it, Bishop!" Hicks threw to his side.

"Contradict me again and I _will_ kill you! I swear!"

Now it was Johner who spoke up. "Damn it, Ryan, pull yourself together! We need these people to survive!"

"I need _nobody!_" Ryan roared and now pointed the gun towards his former shipmate. "Not even _you!_"

"You're crazy, man," Johner commented.

"Last chance!" the lunatic screamed. "Take off, or the bitch _bleeds!"_

Nobody moved. They weren't sure what they could do.

"You had better take off at the count of three! One! Two! Thr…"

What happened next was an unexpected distraction. With a shrilly hiss, Jones charged and attacked the hand that was holding the people at gunpoint. Ryan, who was still traumatized after the cat had clawed his eyes out, reacted so violently in fright that he lost hold of his hostage while striking out with his hand to throw off the feline while screaming loudly. Adrienne immediately rushed forward to get the terrified nurse away from the madman. Ryan was enraged now, but for the moment he wanted to take revenge on the cat first and foremost.

"_Damn wretch! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!_" And with that he began to fire his gun against the direction the cat had gone. It was a good thing he was blind, or he would have hit the creature – but at the same time it was a bad thing. Ryan was angry beyond reasoning now, and he started to shoot anyplace, giving no regard to what he might risk hitting. And given to what he said earlier, he wouldn't give a damn if he happened to kill any of them.

It was down to either they or him!

Johner was the first to make the choice, mostly because he was almost hit by a strafing bullet. He pulled the gun he usually concealed within his thermos, and with it, he shot at Ryan.

Hicks' responsibility was to everybody he had sworn to protect as long as he had the power to do so. This young lunatic was about ready to doom everybody if only to save himself and was now not only a danger to the humans, but to the ship itself as the runt was shooting in every direction, risking damaging several controls. They couldn't risk be stranded here, but the other was so immersed in his own rage that he would never listen. Sometimes drastic situations called for drastic measures – he had to be stopped!

Hicks pulled his own gun and began putting caps in Ryan's body as well. Ryan twitched in spasmatic rattles as his body was pierced by armor-piercing rounds. Of course, Ryan wasn't wearing body-armor, so many of the bullets went right through him entering the chest and going out through his back. Hicks and Johner were both out of ammo before they ceased firing, but by then there wasn't anything left whole in Ryan's body that could sustain his life. The lunatic lay backwards draped over the console where Adrienne had before put the cat-box, his body leaking out all of his life-fluids.

"Maybe I can get to like the cat anyway," Johner commented.

Adrienne, who was still comforting the nurse looked up, shocked by the drama that had just transpired. As a doctor she despised violence, but she couldn't dismiss what had led to this shootout. "Was this action to kill him justified?" she asked. Hicks sure thought it was. At least he hoped so.

"It was a hostage situation. It was one thing that he feared for his life, but he was intent on doing serious harm to bystanders just to get his way done. And with his hate for women, it was impossible to reason with him." Hicks holstered his empty gun. "Talk about a seriously disturbed guy! Did he do any damage to the ship?"

"More cosmetic than any actual damage," Bishop reported. "He didn't hit any vital systems, and there is no breach in the hull - we'll still be able to fly."

"You know, you could have tried to stop him."

"How could I? I'm programmed to not harm a human. Albeit I do have my subroutine to not let myself be harmed by an adversary in turn, Ryan was unaware of that I was here as he was blind, and never pointed the gun at me. I was therefore incapable to take an immediate action against him."

"If we survive the next hour, we really should have a look at those subroutines of yours!" Hicks stated.

Bishop was just then studying the boards. "'If' is exactly right. We've got a serious problem."

"What now?"

"Sensors are detecting a massive energy build-up in the hull of the derelict. Judging from these readings at the rate the energy is climbing, it will go critical in just under five minutes! We're out of time! I estimate by these available figures that the force of the blast will be equal to about six megatons with a blast-radius of 20 kilometers. Not as big as when the colony exploded, it would have been even bigger if the derelict's power core had not been so depleted - but it will still vaporize everything in the vicinity, including us if we stay here for much longer."

Hicks was facing an utter defeat, no matter what he did. There was no time left to get to Ripley and Newt. And at the same time he was responsible for the survivors that were already aboard the _Athena_. The rules stated that he should take those he had and escape - otherwise they would _all_ be destroyed.

"The alien ship is exploding now?!" Johner gasped out in surprise. "Why's that all of the sudden?"

"Because I arranged it," Bishop admitted. "But I had planned for us to be out of here before it occurred. My timetable was broken."

"We can't do anything for the others, then!" Johner urged. "We must leave _now!_"

"I… I can't!" Hicks gulped. "I _can't_ just leave them behind. I would never be able to _live_ with myself if I did!"

"Then get out there and _die_ with them!" the pirate snarled. "Or I could put my gun to your head and kill you right here! I for one don't want to _die_ on this wretched rock!"

"You have to make a decision," Bishop said calmly. "I can't do it for you. We're coming down to four minutes."

"_I need a third option!"_ Hicks said desperately. "I can't… I _won't _leave them! We all go home or nobody goes home!"

Johner pulled his gun again, this time pointing it at the corporal. In his rising despair, he had forgotten that his weapon was empty. "You can't make that decision for me! Get it through your thick skull: we _can't _get to them!"

"Actually, we can," Bishop said. "Newt is in the tower, and it's safe to assume that Ripley is there with her. I noticed on the way over here as we passed by that the main window in the façade is broken. I can put the ship in hover next to the broken frame, open up the cargo bay door, and they should be able to jump over. Then we all head directly out for space."

Hicks looked at the android incredulously, not believing that it would have to be made like a command decision before he would take action.

"Then for god's sake, Bishop… _do it!"_

* * *

From Ripley's point of view, history was repeating itself. Here she was again, holding little Newt firmly in her arms while standing amongst the chaos of a base that was destroying itself around them. The internal fires of the ruined complex had reached the more critical areas that was vulnerable to a blazing inferno. More conduits ruptured and exploded around them, and metal was heard creaking due to melting bulkheads that lost its cohesion by the heat and buckled under its own weight. If there ever was a fire suppressant system in this complex, it had long ago failed.

The idea to leave and take their chances with life had come too late. Ripley had descended the stairs from McHagen's office down to the conference room on the level below when the hopeless situation had become obvious. There had started a fire on the bottom and the stairwell was filling up with poisonous smoke. The elevator was no option either - it was totally out of commission as it had no power. There was nowhere to go.

Ripley stood with Newt at the broken window, letting the winds of air blow into their faces and clearing off the smoke. A storm had picked up and was whistling loudly as it blew passed the broken window, but it didn't actually bother her that much right now. She had a view over the derelict and she didn't need sensors to see that something was going on. The hull of the alien spacecraft was crackling with energy, and the reaction it caused to the extraterrestrial metal was leading to nothing good. Ripley had no idea what had caused it, but she could tell that it would lead to its annihilation, and most likely it would take the whole high plateau it was resting on with it.

Ripley was content with this. Strangely enough she was at the same kind of peace as when she had hurled herself into the wat of molten steel after the battle of Fury 16. Ripley had no explanation for why she remembered that as she certainly shouldn't. The only reason she had recollections of her previous life was because the aliens possessed genetically passed down memories, and she had been granted that gift through the genetic crossover. But the tissue sample of her DNA contaminated with alien cells that the scientists of the _Auriga_ had collected from the installation of the prison planet would not have accounted for her final moment falling into the furnace two centuries ago. And yet she did remember, and she would have to accept that the mystery as to how was an answer she would never learn. Ripley had anyway died knowing that she had taken the final threat of the alien species with her to oblivion. (Or so she had thought at that time.) And now the same thing was going to happen again.

Yes, she was at peace, because she felt that the purpose of her life had been fulfilled – and with an added bonus. She was reunited with her child, and that was the best thing of it all. Naturally she would have preferred it to end differently, because like any parent she wanted Newt to live for a long time – but that was not going to happen as it looked now. But like Ripley, the girl had already accepted that. She too was calm, because she was where she wanted to be: safely tucked in the arms of an adult she felt close to, small arms locked around the neck of the other, and her small head resting on the shoulder. This was what Newt had wanted most of all and what no money could buy – what she had missed so desperately after her family had been wiped out by the aliens: to be loved and be comforted. And as long as she had that, she didn't fear what would come next.

Ripley's ears were picking up a noise. She couldn't discern what it was as the sound became too mixed up with the howl from the winds of Acheron – but she did think it had a distinctive sound resembling the roar of an engine. Newt's sensitive hearing was now registering it too. The sound was coming closer quite quick – and all of the sudden their view over the derelict was obscured by the massive bulk of the humanitarian ship that formerly had been docked to the far side of the complex. Someone had got it off the ground and was now putting the ship in hover in front of the ruined façade of the structure. The ship stabilized in midair as best as it could with the winds slamming into it, and Ripley came to realize that whoever was flying the craft, he had excellent knowledge of the ship's design. There was a giant hatch of a cargo bay facing the woman and the child, and the door leading to the hold rolled aside, clearly inviting them to come in.

"It looks like we're getting the chance to live for another day," Ripley stated to the child as she backed off farther into the conference room to take a leap for a jump. The distance between the ship and the broken frame in the wall was approximately three- perhaps four meters, and Ripley suddenly had a déjà vu when she was about to jump aboard the _Betty_ when escaping from the _Auriga_. This time she was carrying an extra weight, but with her determination to protect the child at any cost, she was positive that she could make it.

"Hold on to me tightly, baby!" She could feel the girl nod her head against her shoulder in response. The adult took a deep breath, and then she sprinted off. She rushed over the floor, looking only ahead, not thinking of the crevice she was going to have to fly over. Reaching the precipice, she stomped off with her foot against the window-ledge to take off into the air out of the building and allowed the momentum to carry both her and Newt across the distance of free air reaching for the open airlock of the _Athena's_ cargo bay. For a moment the woman's self-assurance left her, leaving her with the negative prospect of failing, that her feet wouldn't reach the deck of the hovering ship and that she and Newt would fall down towards the rocky ground below them. But then her toes made contact with the edge of the airlock, and she used the contact as leverage to shift her balance forwards, so that she would move further inwards rather than risk tipping over backwards and in effect fall out. She stumbled, but managed to halt herself, and was overwhelmed with relief as she realized that they had made it.

A radio crackled. "- Welcome aboard, Ripley, Newt."

Bishop. Somehow Ripley wasn't the least bit surprised to hear his voice. She knew it meant that he was in control of the ship and that made her feel better at odds.

"Is everybody else safely aboard?" Ripley called out while putting Newt down on the deck, trusting that the line was on a two-way communication.

"- They are," came the reply. "- You were the last."

"Then by all means, Bishop, _Punch it!_ Get us out of here and don't stop for _anything!_ Consider it an order!"

"- Consider it done."

The deck rumbled as the engines increased in power and the ship began to climb, moving like an ascending elevator past the exterior of the habitat complex. It was disturbing how familiar all of this was – now they were leaving in almost the same manner they had escaped the exploding atmosphere processor. At least this time they didn't have an enraged queen hot on their tails.

A new voice came through the open channel. "- You two have better hang on to something," Adrienne Kinloch's voice said. "- We can't get to you as you have been contaminated by the atmosphere, so you're going to have to ride through the storm where you are. Sorry, but safety protocols are there for a reason." Ripley knew that better than anybody, remembering the airlock incident onboard the _Nostromo_ with Captain Dallas, Lambert and Kane.

Speaking of airlocks, the one here in the cargo bay still stood widely open – the people on the bridge had opened it for them, so why weren't they closing it again? Newt was throwing a glance outside and she gasped, her small body suddenly stiffening, and her eyes going wide. Ripley was still holding some supporting hands on the girl's shoulders, so she could feel how the child suddenly tensed up. The woman followed the young's gaze, and then she understood Newt's reaction. They were passing the highest peak of the command tower as they rose into the air and there, sitting on the top of the structure, was an alien watching them in turn! At first Ripley thought it was another queen, because it was roughly the same size. But that was no queen, it looked more like an advanced warrior. Although undoubtably alien, it had the body resemblance of something taken from a fairy tale – a _dragon!_ She had never laid eyes on it before, but she certainly recognized the psychological _presence_ it carried! She had felt it in the bowels of the derelict ship.

"Good lord," the woman gasped. "It's the _first!_ The one that came from the space pilot!"

The xenomorph king watched the rising ship climb into the air, acting strangely impassively. There was no way to tell what was going on within its mind, but it looked like it was in no real hurry. And that was because the king was toying with them. The prey could not run – not from him! Let them believe for a moment that they would get away – their flesh would taste much sweeter when it was pumped up with fear as they were about to learn the inevitable of no escape! When the ship had gained enough altitude, the king spread its wings…

* * *

On the bridge of the _Athena_, Hicks expressed some concerns.

"We got a breach! The airlock to the cargo bay is still open! Why aren't you closing it?"

Bishop's current stale plastic face could not reveal any emotions, but his voice did reveal a hint of curiosity rather than concern. "I can't. It appears that the gunshots Ryan fired off did some damage after all. I could tell the computer to open the hatch, but it won't accept the commands to close it. There must be a cut circuit somewhere."

Hicks hit the button for communications. "Ripley! We got a systems damage up here, we can't seal the airlock! You have to close it on your end!"

Ripley heard Hicks' words and quickly rushed over to a workstation terminal that was standing up from the middle of the deck. She fondled with the controls, trying to find the right switch, momentarily cursing the Japanese Seiyu Group corporation for not being more simplistic in their designs.

Just then Newt was crying out in panic. "Riiipplleeee…"

It was too late. Like a giant vampire bat, or more like a dragon, the alien king was sailing through the air coming straight for the open airlock, flying faster than those wings should have been able to carry it. In an instant it was inside the bay, its size filling up almost the entire space, and its eye-less face fixed on the two humans in there with it – humans that had no place to run, no place to hide. So much for not having a royal xenomorph hot on their tails.


	40. The King of the Xenomorphs

_This was Raksha's __**revenge!**_

Ripley knew this to be true, because no matter how much she tried, she could not make a mental connection to this stowaway alien monstrosity, to tell it as a queen to her servant that his presence was not required and that he was to vacate immediately. The back of her mind that was the part of her brain that communicated with the aliens was a total blank, and it wasn't because the king was totally mindless – it was because Ripley no longer _had_ the capability to speak to them! Ripley understood now what had really happened in the aftermath of the battle of her mind when she had buried Raksha:

_If you will not have me, than you will have __**none**__ of the advantages that comes with my genes! You won't make it without me! _

The power of the xenomorphs blended to her physiology… it had all come through Raksha! When she'd buried the demon deep within her mind, she also cut off the link to tap into her extraterrestrial abilities! Ripley was nothing more than a mere human! Her alien-blended person might have been able to fend of the king – but the original Ripley could not!

_You will soon find that you need me more than anything and then you will beg for my help! I'm __**part**__ of you, and you'll never be rid of me!_

That was Raksha's safety margin. If Ripley wanted to survive this, she would have no choice but to un-bury the demon within her and let her loose. That devious bitch! She had _planned_ this – summoning the king to exterminate the human if the demon lost the battle! Either Raksha would be in control, or _none_ of them would.

The alien king wasn't aware that it was being used as an instrument for blackmail or for revenge, but it would hardly have made any difference for it. The scorpion tail lashed like a pendulum, and it hissed in impatience. Ripley couldn't tell for sure, but it appeared that it was waiting for a sign – that either would Ripley give in to the xenomorphs, or she would die. Both her and the girl.

The girl. She was clinging to Ripley's waist, trembling in fright, but otherwise quiet. She didn't even whimper. Ripley was instantly reminded of her true responsibility, the only thing that mattered. The adult still had one piece of equipment at her disposal, and she was going to use it to fulfill her duty as a mother. Moving carefully, to not alert the monster, Ripley reached with her right hand towards her left wrist. Like everybody from the safehouse in the research complex, she had the special armband that had been made from Bishop's specifications charged with the energy that would hide them from the aliens' way of sight. Newt was the only one who didn't have one because she had run away before the devices had been finished, and Ripley had never used hers.

Carefully, Ripley unlatched the armband from her wrist, and then she slapped it around Newt's, allowing the self-sealing strap to wrap itself around the child's small arm. And then she pressed the squishy cap to activate it. The energy contained within the device instantly lay itself like an aura around the girl… because she was smaller, it would last longer. Ripley absolutely hated to do what she did next: she hurled the girl away from her. It anguished her to see the shocked expression on the angelic face.

"Go!" the adult urged the child. "Hide! And whatever you do, don't look back for me!" This was because Ripley did not want the girl to see how the alien was ripping her to pieces.

The alien king was in the meantime extremely confused. From its point of perception, the smaller prey had just disappeared into thin air. It looked around, trying to locate the little pup again. It could still smell the pheromones of her fear – she wouldn't be able to hide for long.

Ripley took the opportunity to run further inside the cargo bay in the opposite direction. The king noticed this and pivoted around after her, hissing out a raging war-cry. Ripley couldn't talk to him, but there was still something of her alien enhancements still active, because she could _hear_ him in the back of her mind. - _You have made your choice! Now you shall die!_

The cargo bay wasn't empty: there were several stacks of crates in there, the contents unknown to her. The woman had just ducked behind a pile of boxes to hide, but that cover was instantly smashed to pieces when the king's massive scorpion tail crashed down on the containers, spreading the contents all over the deck, and leaving the woman sprawled along with them. For the first time since her resurrection, Ripley was overwhelmed with the cold fear she always had felt before when dealing with the aliens. The last time she was in a battle like this was with the queen aboard the _Sulaco_, but that time she had a powerloader to match the alien's strength. This time she had nothing!

* * *

The mood wasn't much better for some of the people on the bridge. The situation was really starting to get to Hicks. They were rising too slowly.

"We're down to the last minute! Can't you go any _faster?!_"

"This is not a dropship, Hicks," Bishop returned impassively. "It's a composition of durasteel, titanium, and many other kind of materials essential for the welfare of people in need that has the size of a mansion. This ship is not built for tactical flying. This is as fast as we can go."

"Have we gained enough altitude to escape the explosion?"

"Negative – and we won't be able to. I've boosted up the heatshield generators in our nether hull to maximum power. I believe they should be adequate to absorb the heat-blast when it goes."

"What about the shockwave?"

"That's going to be one massive session of turbulence we're going to have to endure."

"Can this ship take that?"

"If the Japanese were thorough in their design and assembly, it should. We're soon about to find out, which reminds me…" Bishop hit the ship-wide communications button. "All hands, this is the pilot. Engage emergency crash-course procedures. We're going to hit a massive turbulence shortly. Secure all patients and all delicate equipment. This is not a drill. Repeat: this is not a drill."

Johner would never admit his state of mind to anybody, but anyone who took a look at him would be able to see that he was close to be totally terrified. "I didn't sign up for this kind of shit!"

"Neither did any of us," Hicks replied shortly as he threw a look at the status readouts. "God dammit! We still got a breach! Why hasn't Ripley closed that hatch?"

"Too bad we can't see what's going on down there," Bishop said. "That's more circuits Ryan managed to damage with his gunshots, the camera monitor is out of order. But she should have heard my warning."

Hicks hit the button to the radio again. "Ripley! It's imperative that you close that hatch! What are you _doing_ down there?"

* * *

Ripley heard Hicks' voice, but she didn't have the opportunity to answer – she was much too busy to fend off the giant alien king. Despite the peril she was in, she allowed herself to feel a bit of hope. She wasn't as defenseless as she thought she was, seeing the spilled contents of the crate the king's tail had cracked open. It was full of distress-signal flare guns. Ripley took back her previous dissatisfaction with the Seiyu Group corporation – they had been quite thorough in making this ship being prepared to cover any kind of emergency. She understood now that this whole cargo hold was filled with all kinds of distress- and aid equipment. The stuff around her weren't weapons – but they sure could be utilized for the similar purpose. Just as the alien king was about to make another lash with his tail to skewer the woman, she picked up one of the flare guns and fired the single load in it at the beast. The small, but powerful projectile didn't penetrate the monster's chitinous hide, but it did lodge itself stuck between the external bones of its ribcage. The flare ignited, spreading a blinding phosphorescent brilliance. As it was meant to be an air-carrying signal, the intensity of the flare was immense enough to burn the alien king and drive it back, roaring. As fast as she could, Ripley picked up gun after gun from the broken crate and fired it. Unfortunately the flares were only enough to keep the winged behemoth at distance – not to drive it off the ship. Worse even; the king's attempts to shrug off the burning flares resulted it stumbling into the control console in the middle of the floor, ruining it. The humans couldn't call for assistance anymore.

The king roared in rage, and Ripley was running out of flare guns – she needed something else. Her eyes darted around, sweeping over the labels of the other boxes in the hold, hoping to find something useful among the rest of the rescue equipment. She barely had time to duck to the floor before a flying fist passed over her head with the driving force of a piledriver and cracked open another stack of crates where the clenched hand connected. The loosened contents of the box provided Ripley with another weapon which she grabbed hold on. Her adrenaline pumping, Ripley managed to roll before another fist smacked down into the spot of the floor she had vacated just half a second ago, leaving a pit in the deck. Straightening up on her feet, the woman fumbled with her new weapon: an oxygen tank. She opened the valve to gush full blast, the she directed the flowing gas towards the king towering over her. The still burning flares lodged into its body did the rest. The combustible oxygen instantly exploded to a bright yellow fireball that engulfed the king. Clutching the tank and directing the oxygen flow, Ripley doused the thrashing, flailing creature with blistering fire. The alien king's pain-wracked cries echoed off the walls of the cargo hold. Unfortunately the _Athena's_ mechanical safeguards were working against Ripley. When the temperature increased in the hold, the automatic fire-suppressant system sprang to life. Everything and everybody was showered in a flame-extinguishing foam, killing the fire. Ripley's face fell as she looked at her now put-out makeshift flamethrower. "Shit!" she mumbled. The no-longer burning king towered over her, looking absolutely livid. The woman was cornered – and the monster moved in to tear off a large chunk of her skull.

* * *

At the bridge, Hicks was looking in bewilderment at the status-console. "Sensors have indicated a fire in the cargo hold! What the hell's going on down there?"

Bishop did not provide with a more encouraging reply. "We have bigger things to worry about. Time's up." The synthetic hit the alarm button. "All hands – brace for impact!"

On the ground below the rising ship, the energy-charged hull of the derelict reached its critical level and lost all containment. The smooth extraterrestrial metal glowed for a moment like a sun, and then it blew. The entire plateau where the alien derelict had rested for who knows how long vanished in an expanding fireball. The alien ship, the fossilized carcass of the space jockey, and the remains of his nightmarish cargo that had brought so much death and destruction was vaporized into oblivion, and the explosion took the ruins of the command complex with it, rupturing the already weakened fuel-tanks within and added its own force to the detonation. The sky blighted, and a bubble of super-heated gas burst through the air, the shockwave slamming into the belly of the escaping humanitarian ship.

No one who was standing on his or her own feet aboard could maintain the balance in their legs. They were all shaken and rattled, including the alien king. The advanced xenomorph was thrown backwards just as he was about to sink his teeth into Ripley's head. The _Athena's_ heatshields repelled the fire, but it could not hold back the thunder and lightning roaring into the cargo hold through the open airlock. The human occupants in there were forced to cover their ears and turn away their faces to protect their eyes. The advanced xenomorph was unaffected, but it had to keep its balance through the massive turbulence.

The _Athena_ was carried upwards riding in the wake of the explosion, and quickly reached an altitude where the radius of the blast dissipated. The humanitarian ship leveled out and continued its ascent, clear of the destructive force from the ground being no worse for wear thanks to the juiced-up heatshields and it continued its heading out for space. In the cargo hold the occupants were now facing a new danger: they had reached such a high altitude that the air was getting too thin. The oxygen they breathed inside the hold was in level with the atmosphere outside the ship thanks to the still open airlock. If Ripley didn't manage to close the hatch soon, they would suffocate.

The king was still standing, still hurt and slightly weakened from the flame thrower attack – but not anywhere down to the level where it would no longer be dangerous. It was still as deadly as any other common xenomorph. However it did not resume its attack. It was motionless, looking like it was far off somewhere else – and that was as close to the truth as you could get. The king was listening for the voices of his kin that was no longer there. The last surviving drones… the preparations for a new crèche… they were gone – _all_ of them. The king was the first born of the entire population of xenomorphs that had raided LV-426, he being the one that had gestated within the space jockey and caused the ship he had piloted to crash there… and now ironically, the king was of this very moment also the _last_ one!

Ripley could in a way understand its distress, she being half xenomorph herself. His kind was gone – and she felt that he should join them! Only Ripley didn't know how she was going to be able to kill the last xenomorph with what she had. The rescue equipments in the hold she had at her disposal were nowhere enough to hardly slow it down even!

But Ripley was not alone in the cargo hold.

Newt had kept her distance, knowing that she had been rendered invisible to the monster that had invaded the ship, and while watching the battle she had reached a new level of understanding.

What a cruel misdirection life had led her around. All this time she had been plagued by the sorrow for losing her parents, her brother, and her own little community on this planet to the aliens, thinking that she would never find the peace and prosperity of a family again. But it was now at the final battle that Newt understood what the fate of her life had always been meant for her to be.

Russel Jorden had fathered her, and Anne Jorden had delivered her into the world – but Newt knew now that they were never meant to be her parents indefinitely. They were only adult guides in passing, until the time came when her _true_ mother would come into the picture. Ellen Ripley wasn't the replacement – _she_ was the mother Newt was always _meant_ to have. It had become shockingly apparent to her when Ripley had slapped the armband onto her wrist and showed her away – the woman would do _anything_ to protect her even if it resultet in attracting the danger to herself. Newt didn't doubt that Anne Jorden would have attempted to do the same – but her strength and resolve to fight the aliens had never even been near the level Ripley possessed. Anne Jorden could never protect her the way Ripley did. But the child also knew that her true mother was not invincible. If something wasn't done that could change the tide of the battle to their favor, Newt would lose a mother for the third time.

Newt knew that she had to do something, but she didn't know if she had the courage to do it. She had sneaked around some crates, coming up behind the king. Gazing up at the monstrosity, she was filled with terror, sensing her instincts screaming at her to turn away and get away from it. But she fought those instincts by listening and giving in to another feeling: her hatred for the aliens. She had heard Ripley referring the winged xenomorph to as 'the first – the one that came from the space pilot' – and the child was clever enough to understand that _this_ monster was the one responsible for crashing the U-shaped derelict to this planet, and thereby was the one that had set the grounds for the nightmare that had plagued her life. The greedy corporation humans had already paid for their immoral actions with their lives – but if there was one on the alien side who was to pay for the death and horror done to everybody who had fallen victim to this species, it was _this one!_ The advanced alien had not yet collected itself – it stood motionless keeping itself steady no doubt recovering from its wounds. Newt knew that the aliens had quite a remarkable healing ability, so there was no time to waste. The scorpion tail was standing erect in the air right in front of her eyes. Holding her breath and moving as quietly as she could, she stood within an arm's length from the airborne horned tail – then she unclasped the armband with the activated shielding device from her arm and slapped it around the tail, letting the self-sealing band latch itself around the base behind the blade-shaped tip – the setback was that she was now revealing herself.

"NEWT, NO!" Ripley shouted from across the bay. The action shook the king out of its stupor, and it instantly turned its massive head towards the now visible child.

Ripley had not really let go of the oxygen tank – this she now threw in the face of the dragon alien. "_No!_ Get away from her, you son of a _bitch!"_ It was enough to make the king turn its head back towards the adult human, but not enough to make it go after her instead. Ripley could hear its clear intentions in the back of her mind: - _My kin is dead! So now I am going to take __**yours! **_The king raised its tail to stab it through the small body of the child, who jerked back in fright, ready to die thinking that her plan didn't work. But Newt was wrong – her plan did work, only it wasn't until now it took full effect.

The armband device with the special shield energy she had slapped around the king's tail was still activated! Because of its bigger body mass, the energy emitted from the small powerpack needed more time to lay itself over the wearer's form, but now a field of bluish energy closed around the xenomorph's face, completing the cover. The result was way different than when a human had utilized it. The power of the device had been siphoned from the cargo hold of the derelict, its main purpose being to prevent the alien eggs to detect a potential host through the field. After Bishop's specifications, the humans had used it as a shield to block themselves from the xenomorph's perceptions, and it worked accordingly. Now as the energy was instead surrounding the alien king, everything was blocked from his view. In effect: the king was now totally _blind_.

A sound Ripley had never heard before escaped the bowels of the alien's throat, a sound of confusion and panic! No xenomorph had ever had this experience before, not being able to see. It shrieked and thrashed, flailing the arms and legs all around, stomping its feet on the deck, totally unable to make out its bearings. It was a distraction well needed.

Ripley sprang into action. She had to act quickly, because she knew that due to the alien's size, the device would use up its power and burn out much faster than it would have when shielding a human. Earlier when the ship had rocked through the turbulance, she had feared that many of the stacked crates would fall down on her head – but they hadn't, thanks to the fact that most of them were secured with a security webbing draped around the boxes. Ripley quickly unhooked one of those webs, and at the same time she gathered some equipment from another crate that would enable her to expel the creature off the ship: Stabo rigs – but of an advanced type. The concept was that with this harness and gas canister, you could inflate a giant balloon that would rise up in the air and be picked up by a flying craft to extract that which it was bound to out from a volatile area. But these rigs were also strong enough that if you blew in enough gas into the balloons, they would even carry a man or heavy equipment out of areas where emergency vehicles couldn't reach. With two of those and a sturdy security net, she would deal with the king.

The king was still thrashing around, not being able to see. Ripley had to keep on her toes. Although blind, those claws would still be able to shred her to pieces if one of those flailing arms sailed her way. Timing it as accurate as she could, she threw the security net over the alien. Since the king couldn't see the webbing, it couldn't discard it. As Ripley had hoped, the webbing got entangled with the monster's limbs, binding around it. It made the king shriek even more. Ripley brought forth one of the stabo canisters and used the straps to tie it to one edge of the web. A quick look on the note told Ripley that the amount of gas to be released was to be regulated to the weight proportions of the load to be carried – Ripley opened the regulator for maximum inflate that was enough to carry up to a ton, ducked just in time under a flailing arm, pulled the release pin and threw the canister out the still open air lock. The canister popped and revealed a piece of fabric that had been folded inside. The balloon instantly expanded and stretched out until it was almost bloated to the bursting point with powerful weight-carrying gas. Within the cargo hold, the xenomorph king was suddenly aware how his side was being pulled backwards by a powerful force, the soles of his feet gliding over the smooth floor. Blind or not, he was not about to let himself be controlled like this. The king braced his clawed feet into the deck, anchoring his mass, and fought against the pull. Ripley was prepared for that possibility. While the xenomorph dragon was busy fighting against the pull, the human rounded it and strapped the second canister to the other side of the net tangled to the creature. Once finished, she repeated the entire process and threw the next activated gas canister out the airlock. The king could withstand the pulling force of one balloon, but not two. With a surprised raspy groan, the advanced xenomorph was pulled off his feet and it flew out the airlock as if it had been sucked out by vacuum.

Now that the alien was expelled, Newt came out from her hiding place and rushed into Ripley's arms. The woman hugged the girl tightly to her chest, relieved to find that the child was all right. Then their eyes simultaneously turned to the floating shape outside the ship. The _Athena_ flew with the wind, and the storm raging outside was carrying the twin balloons with their hideous load alongside the craft. The alien struggled against its bounds, growling in rage. It could have been exposure to the radioactive atmosphere like what had happened to Keevan Felger, or it could be that the device had burnt out all of its power – but the stealth field was gone. The king could see again, and it had its gaze directed at the two humans standing at the open airlock. It hissed, stretched its wings and tore apart some of the strands of the webbing. Once it was free, it would come after them again.

Ripley had no intention of letting it do that – she had one more surprise in store for the monster. In her hand she had one of the unused flare guns that had fallen out from the first busted crate. But first she looked deeply into Newt's blue eyes, seeing the pain and horror in those that the aliens had brought, and she knew that the pain matched her own. She wrapped her arms around the girl's body, placed the flare gun in her small hands, and folded her own fingers around the tiny digits.

"We will do this together!"

Newt nodded almost vigorously. "For my family… for my people…"

"For the _Nostromo_…" Ripley continued. "For Amy…"

This was going to be their revenge. Ripley used her arms to stretch out Newt's, and aimed the flare gun in the child's hands against the floating struggling monstrous shape – or to be more precise: above it! Together, woman and child pressed the trigger and fired off the small phosphorescent projectile. The ballistic object flew straight into the balloons, pierced the fabric, and instantly ignited the highly combustible gas. It was like the birth of another sun. The fireball expanded instantly and vaporized everything burnable. What didn't burn melted and was blasted away like miniature meteorites. When the fireball dissipated, all that was left was the badly burned alien king, minus the wings as the leathery flaps had been completely incinerated. It had nothing to keep it in the air. Not able to withstand the laws of physics, the gravity of LV-426 took hold of the alien king and with a high-pitched scream, the dethroned and still burning xenomorph tumbled down, its falling course sending it towards the blazing pyre on the ground that was destroying the last of the derelict.

Ripley and Newt didn't have time to rejoice in their victory – they were so high up now that the air was almost gone. Thank heavens they were in the cargo hold of emergency equipment. Half carrying Newt with her, whom had started to show signs of slumping from lack of oxygen, she stumbled over to her previous spot for shelter, starting to see spots before her eyes. There at the second stack of crates the alien had smashed open during their battle were more tanks with oxygen. Opening the valves on two of the bottles to just the amount they required to avoid oxygen poisoning, Ripley put the clear plastic mask of one bottle over Newt's face, then the second one over her own. Greedily they sucked in the life-giving gas, and they became more alert. The matter of breathing was solved, but now they were facing a too radical drop of temperature. They had to get the airlock closed – not only were they risking freezing to death, but they were also reaching hard vacuum the higher up in atmosphere the _Athena _came, and that would suck the moisture out of their skin.

The main control console was destroyed, so Ripley couldn't use it to close the hatch – she had to get the through the maintenance plate at the side of the doorway. To her chagrin, the access panel was locked in place with screws, and no longer did she possess the ability to simply rip off the plate. Neither did she think there was a toolbox in there. But then Newt tugged on the adult's wrist, showing her the solution to the problem - her most precious possession, the thing Zack Ryan had wanted to steal: her motorized polysizable screwdriver. As Newt was more used to handle the device than Ripley was, the adult let her do the removal of the screws. Once the panel was out of the way, Ripley looked at the circuits inside, found the control switch and twisted it – the airlock door rolled shut and sealed them in from the hostile environment outside.

Now as the danger was passed, Ripley slumped down on her knees as the tension flowed out of her systems, and she leaned against the wall. But she wouldn't sit there alone – she motioned for Newt to come, and the child sat down on the adults lap, leaning in to rest against the other's chest with the larger arms wrapped tightly around her small frame. They just had to wait now until the ventilation had pressurized the bay and the elements had restored the temperature. Until then they would keep the oxygen masks on and keep each other warm. The two enjoyed each other's company so much that they lost track of time, and after a while they suddenly became aware that they no longer were alone. A third figure had come in, wearing a complete hazmat suit. Adrienne Kinloch's shocked face was looking around from behind the clear faceplate, taking in the state of the cargo hold.

"What in the world has _happened_ here?!" she asked.


	41. The consequences of their actions

There was activity in the _Athena's_ decontamination room. Under special care, Adrienne had brought Ripley and Newt there from the ruined cargo hold, taking precautions that they would not meet anybody on the way. Both adult and child showed dangerous levels of radioactive contamination which needed to be treated immediately. The first thing the doctor had done was to have them drink some salty-tasting slurry of potassium iodide to protect the internal organs. Then she had drawn some of their blood, and finally ordered them to discard their outfits. Under Adrienne's stern supervision, the two stood under showers of scalding hot water, scrubbing their hides with bristled brushes together with a special soap that would both absorb and contain the radioactive particles that was loosened from their bodies and be rinsed away through the floor drain. It was a bit of scary and uncomfortable experience for Newt, but she endured it with the company of Ripley who was with her through the entire process. This time Ripley had been contaminated as well: the alien part of her physiology was shut down after she had buried Raksha within her mind and it no longer offered her the protection she previously had. At least they had some privacy in this somewhat humiliating treatment. The blinders were shut so that no one could look in – but the patients had been informed that Hicks was standing outside, waiting for better news.

Finally, after what felt having been hours of being flayed alive, Adrienne allowed them to step out from the hot showers and the doctor inspected them with a Geiger counter. She studied the readouts for a moment and then looked at Newt. "Bad news, I'm afraid. There'll be no escape from the 200 years' worth of schoolwork you've got to catch up with." It took a short second for Newt to understand that the doctor had made a joke, and she smiled a little. Ripley was however still a bit nervous for the child's sake.

"Are you certain?" the woman asked. "She will be all right?"

"She's fine, Ripley. You both are." Adrienne made it a point by removing the hood of her hazmat suit. "It is fortunate that the amount of radiation down there on the planet has dissipated to more treatable levels over the past two centuries. You have nothing more to worry about." Overjoyed, Ripley leaned down to give the girl another hug and to plant a kiss on her cheek.

There was a knock on the door. "Hey! If they're all right, then I'd like to come in too!" Hicks demanded from the other side.

"You're _not_ stepping in here until these two have had the chance to make themselves more decent!" Adrienne called back. Afterwards the doctor handed Ripley a white robe which the woman slipped on. Newt was left having a large towel wrapped around her small frame. As the _Athena_ had typically been under military jurisdiction, there were no clothes in her size laying prepared onboard. The automatic clothing machine would have to fix some for her since their previous outfits were no longer available. Adrienne had decided to have those burned. It was a precaution not only due to the radiation, but who could tell what kind of germs there might still be left on them from their encounter with the advanced alien? Add to the fact that the fabric in those clothes had been torn beyond mending anyway.

When Hicks was admitted, he walked straight over to Newt and scooped her up in his arms. "You really had me worried, Kid!" he told her as he gave her a tight hug.

"I'm sorry!" she said. "I really didn't mean to. I kind of lost it after what Ryan did. I couldn't think straight…"

"You're safe now. That's all that matters. And Ryan is no longer of any problem, you won't have to worry about him again." He didn't give any more specific details of that. The corporal sat the girl down on the examination cot and then he turned to Ripley. He looked at her with a resigned expression. He had been planning to yell at her for the double-crossing action in the ambulance, but now as he was standing before her, he found that his heart just wasn't in it anymore.

"I don't condone your actions… but goddammit… I'm glad that you're okay." And then he embraced the woman, which she answered in turn.

"More than okay," Adrienne intervened. "I really can't comprehend your blood sample that I took. From what I can tell, you're no longer metamorphosing as you did in the ambulance – and that's not all… your blood is no longer acidic. Don't get me wrong… but why's that?"

"It's kind of a reaction from a psychological incident," Ripley said. "I really don't know how best to explain it…"

"But you're no longer turning into a bug, if I'm getting you right?" This came from Johner, who was standing by the doorway.

"That's one way of saying it," Ripley confirmed.

"That's all I need to know," Johner returned with a hint of a grin. "Would've hated to have to use a flyswatter on you…"

The woman flashed the pirate a knowing smile. "You really think you could've taken me on?"

Johner put on a more cautious look. "Depends on what kind of reprimand I might face for trying."

Ripley was still smiling. "Well… as things are now, I'm past the more physical retributions… But be warned, Johner, I'm still your captain. Don't cross me – I know of other methods of punishments besides my previous administrations. I assure you: you wouldn't want that."

Johner snorted. "Some things change while others don't, I see. Glad to have you back, 'Captain'." The last line was clearly a sarcasm.

"I'm glad to have you back, too," another said as he stepped past Johner coming into the room.

"Really," Adrienne said in disapproval. "It's starting to get a little crowded in here! This is a hospital ward for crying out loud, not a public meeting area!"

Ripley and Newt looked at the newcomer with confusion. "Who's this?" the woman asked.

"That's Bishop," Hicks replied. "He transferred his program into a body made up of spare parts."

"I wouldn't refer the expensive advanced prosthesis equipment he took to build his body as 'spare parts'," Adrienne shot at the corporal sourly.

"Think of it this way, Doctor Kinloch," the android said unusually brightly. "At least the parts came into good use."

"That's a matter of perspective," the doctor muttered.

Ripley wasn't as disapproving as the doctor. "Well, Bishop… you sure are full of surprises."

"And I've got more in store. I've got something to show you." Bishop stepped up to a monitor in the wall and began pushing some buttons. "After I had us put in synchronized orbit and while waiting for you to be finished with your decontamination process, I took the liberty to resume the search for more evidence."

"Evidence? For what?"

"To incriminate McHagen and his staff, of course. Remember how I suggested aboard the wreck of the _Betty_ that there may be some communications logs between the army and the former captain Elgyn that might reveal the truth that it was in fact Jacob McHagen who hired the pirates to hijack that commuter liner for their experiments conducted aboard the _Auriga?_"

"I remember. You had me bring the _Betty's_ flight recorder. But I don't recall what I did with it."

"You left it in the ambulance," Bishop said. "I retrieved it while you were busy with your decontamination, hooked it up and accessed it. And I found something that might interest you."

On the monitor there was an activity of thousands of pixels rotating around, all of them being drawn to the center.

"I've had the _Athena's_ main computer decompile the information I found in the flight recorder and instructed it to rewrite the data after the specifications of my own matrix."

"After your matrix?" Hicks asked. "What are you up to now?"

"It should be clear to you any second…"

On the monitor all the pixels suddenly mashed together and rearranged themselves to build a 3D-image of a face, just like the way Bishop had revealed himself in the research complex. But it wasn't his face showing on the monitor this time. It was an image of a young-looking woman.

"Ah, fuck me!" Johner blurted out as he saw the image, (and earning a reproachful glare from Hicks and doctor Kinloch for his choice of words. There was a child present, after all.) "I don't believe it!"

Ripley's eyes became wide. "_Call!_"

"I discovered in the activity logs that your synthetic had been hooked up to the _Betty's_ main computer quite many times recently," Bishop explained. "And twice she had been forced disconnected without having time to pull out, the last one being the result of your ship crashing. You could say that those incidents left an 'echo' of her essence in the memory banks – a duplicate imprint of her personality matrix. But neither the _Betty's_ computer nor the _Athena's _knew what to do with this data. That's why I uploaded a copy of my own basic program to incorporate the imprint of her essence after my base parameters. She has the recognizable features, but the computer is still working with her personality and memory files… It'll be interesting to see if it works."

While they had been talking, the image of Call's face had been completely still… but the computer then became ready with its work, its process bar having reached full activity, and suddenly the female face in the monitor came alive, and she looked around in complete bewilderment.

"- What happened? Where am I?"

"Call!" Ripley called out all smiling. "You damn asshole model of a second gen, you sure are a sight for sore eyes!"

Technically, Call's program was seeing the other woman through the monitor's interlink camera, but the 3D-image of her face mimicked a corporeal being as much as it was able. Call was fixing her simulated eyes at the people present in the hospital ward.

"- Ripley! What's going on here? What happened to me? I can't feel my legs!"

"You have no legs, Call… I'm afraid you don't have a body at all."

"- Jesus…" Call gasped as she became aware of the truth of her current predicament. "- Shit! If my mind's in here, then where's the rest of me?"

Ripley looked uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, Call, but it was destroyed together with the _Betty._"

"- Bugger! Is it not possible to salvage it?"

"There's nothing left _to_ salvage! Quite a lot has happened, Call… more than you realize."

"- I say it has," Call remarked. "- You for example. You seem to be nothing at all from the last I saw you. I hardly recognize you, just like I don't recognize this place, nor any of the people – save for Johner. It grieves me that I have to look upon his ugly mug again!"

"_Hey!_" the scarred pirate protested.

"- At least your change is quite an improvement, Ripley," Call continued. "- You look more human now when not looking so angry. You keep better company too, I see – among them a little girl no less. But where did they come from?"

"These people have a very special significance to me, Call – especially _this_ one!" Ripley put an affectionate arm around Newt's shoulders. The girl said nothing, only taking in what was happening. "Call, I'd like you to meet Newt – my amazing daughter!"

"- _Daughter!?_" Call looked shocked. "- Wait a minute… How _long_ have I been out of it?!"

* * *

The following hours meant nothing to Newt. All that the adults did was to talk with the newly activated lady robot, exchanging stories of what had happened. All Newt wanted to do was to leave all of it behind her, so she had no interest in contributing with anything, nor did anyone ask her. Instead she was overwhelmed with boredom and fatigue - she was about to fall asleep there on the examination cot, the last days of action having taken a heavy toll on her. And she was feeling a bit ill as well since it had been such a long time she had eaten anything. But it seemed impossible to get her to devour any food.

By Adrienne Kinloch's advice, as she had lived on the ship before it set down on LV-426 and thus knowing the accommodations aboard, Hicks had brought the girl to the same recuperation lounge where the child had been put to rest right after she had been thawed up… it would serve her well again as she needed to sleep undisturbed. Along the way they had met up with Jones the cat in one of the corridors, and the little furry creature had followed along. After having provided the girl with the smallest adult army t-shirt he could find, (which was still quite oversized for her,) Hicks tucked her in into the bed in the designated quarters, with Jones lying down beside her. Hicks was as grateful for the cat as Newt was – by having its company, the girl dared to go to sleep which she otherwise usually was reluctant to do as she was plagued by nightmares.

It had gone close to three hours before Ripley came in to check on her. The woman was now also clothed in the army's standard garbs they had onboard – she would have to acquire something of her personal taste later. Ripley was pleased to see that the girl was sleeping, but she grew concerned anyway. The child looked so pale and so fragile – there was some kind of sickness in her that was eating her up… the adult hoped that it just had to do with her malnutrition. Hopefully her appetite should begin to return now as the threat of the aliens were gone. Maybe later Ripley would find the chance to join the little one in the bed to share some quiet time and some snugly moments – but for now she had to settle with planting a kiss on the temple and pulling up the blanket so that it lay around the girl's chin… that's when she became aware of that she was watched.

"Hey, Jonesy… long time no see." Ripley scratched the big orange tom behind its ears. It was a wonder that the cat accepted the woman's presence, let alone allowing her to touch him. Because of Ripley's mixed heritage, the feline was a bit wary of her… but he was a smart cat, and he knew that despite what she had become, Ripley would never harm his new young human - that's why he accepted her, as well as Hicks.

"I guess I'll never know how you ended up here," Ripley spoke quietly to the cat. "..but I am pleased to see you. Can I trust you to help me to keep her happy?" Naturally the cat gave no reply – he only gave her the typical look only a cat could give which told her that he wasn't going anywhere. And that was all the answer she needed.

A radio communicator in her ear chirped. "- Ripley. We're coming up on our coordinates," said Hicks' voice.

"On my way," Ripley replied lowly. Taking a short moment to stroke the still sleeping girl over her blond hair one more time before leaving, Ripley exited the room with reluctance – but she had other matters which she was required to deal with now.

* * *

Ripley met up with Hicks and Bishop outside the _Athena's_ airlock. "Are we in position?" she asked the two.

"We're in the final phase," Bishop replied. Ripley really wished the android would do something about his face. It was somewhat discouraging to talk to that stale expressionless mask. Just then more people were coming in. Johner was leading the three surviving members of McHagen's staff in under gunpoint. Diplomacy had never been the pirate's virtue.

"Sirs," Hicks greeted the officers with a trained humbled tone. Some habits from his military days were hard to overcome – but he did not salute them.

"What's the meaning of this?" General Berger-Hauser demanded. "Why have we been treated like this? You have the utter gall to put _us_ in house arrest? What do you intend to do with us?"

Hicks was not swayed by the general's harsh tone. He would always speak to superior officers with respect – but to _feel_ respect, that was a whole different matter. Hicks had no respect at all for these people. "Well, sirs, we had a long discussion about that – and each one of us did have a different view of opinion on what we would do with you. Johner here for example wanted to hold you for ransom… but in the end we all agreed on that we simply don't want to have you onboard! So we decided to drop you off right here." The corporal nodded towards the airlock. Lieutenant Colonel Maziq became completely white in his face.

"Commander McHagen was right about you lot!" Admiral Henderson snarled angrily. "You're nothing but dishonorable scoundrels and murderers! Killing us won't gain you anything!"

Hicks scoffed and turned to Ripley. "I told you they would react that way."

"Good thing I didn't bet against you," Ripley said casually.

The corporal turned back to the staff members. "What kind of people do you think we are? We have no intention of killing you. The decision we made…" Hicks slammed a button on the wall beside the door and it began to roll open. "..was to let you go."

There was another man behind the door Hicks had just opened, and he stepped out of the airlock. As the staff members had only met him briefly upon arrival on LV-426, they didn't recognize him at first. This was Captain Grissom, the former commander of the _Athena_ whom had by orders altered course and set down on the planet below all those months ago. After McHagen's arrival, he and his first officer had been transferred to the escort cruiser that had travelled together with the rockets that had deployed into the two complexes on the ground. Captain Grissom's job had under all this time been to travel between LV-426 and Earth hauling supplies. He was also the one who had under McHagen's orders shot down the _Betty_ from space. The escort cruiser was now at this moment docked to the _Athena_ to admit the staff members and the last remaining soldiers to transport them all back to Earth.

The staff members were perplexed. "You're letting us leave and go home? Just like that? Why?"

Ripley gave them a sly smile. "Because what awaits you at home is a much more suitable fate for you than what we could administer." The staff members gave her another confused look.

"We want you to go home…" Hicks said. "…so that you can _explain_ to your superiors just what condoned your actions here!"

"Quite a dire list…" Bishop filled in. "Conducting scientific experiments that were never approved by congress… hiring pirates to hijack a civilian commuter transport and deliberately expose the passengers to a deadly organism… the department for civil rights will have a field day for just that one." The three officers were growing quite pale again as the android summed up their illicit activities. "Y-you know nothing about it!" the admiral stammered.

"I know everything about it. In fact: I have collated every scheme you've done and sent it ahead to the Field Marshall office in the Pentagon. I'm sure it will be quite an interesting read for them as there is a lot more where that came from. Don't forget the illegal transference of sentenced prisoners from a federal state arrest and expose them to the same deadly organism… sending dozens of soldiers to certain death… destruction of military property…"

"Hold on!" General Berger-Hauser interrupted. "_You_ were the ones destroying the property! You were the one instigating a rebellion against us, making the soldiers turn traitors!"

Hicks laughed. "Really, General… are you going to tell the investigators that a man who has been _dead_ for two centuries destroyed your complex?"

"Or that a clone came in to ruin your parade?" Ripley continued. "McHagen never let it be known that he had me cloned, did he? Cloning humans is strictly prohibited. It will be another crime added to the roster if you admit that."

"And I'm sure the economics department will be very interested to know what all the funds they been pumping into your science projects have really been used for," Bishop went on. "Some of those did go into your personal bank-accounts, didn't they?"

The staff members weren't ready to give up. "This is all _slander!_" Admiral Henderson barked. "This is all _lies_ conducted by you! There is no proof to corroborate these accusations! The congress will never believe you!"

"They don't need to believe us," Bishop returned. "I'm sure the congress is more inclined to believe Colonel Hayes."

"What are you talking about? He's dead!"

"But what you don't know is that before he committed suicide, he sent a private communique to the Pentagon where he confessed all the deeds you had done. It was signed with his personal code to mark its authenticity."

"That _damn_…" Henderson gulped.

"You… you can't do this!" Lieutenant Colonel Maziq was close to panic. "You'll _ruin_ us! We'll be sent to prison for _life!_ You'll destroy the lives of our _families_…!"

"And what of the lives of the families _you_ destroyed?" Ripley snarled. "The passengers of that commuter transport, for example – there was a man named Purvis aboard: his family will always wonder if their relative died for a _reason!_ And what of the families of the soldiers you sent to their deaths? Did you think your way of life was a whole lot more worth than _theirs?!_ You make me sick!"

"You can't worm yourselves out of this," Hicks said. "You can be sure of _that!_ Now get out of here!"

The three surviving staff members began to move into the airlock, their shoulders sloughed in total defeat as they knew that their careers were all over and that they would serve quite a long jail-time for what they had done. Captain Grissom watched them go before he turned the 'renegade' company. "What about the _Athena?_"

"What about it?" Ripley asked.

"It's a vessel under military jurisdiction…"

"You've wrecked _my_ ship! And my crew was _killed_ down there! I'm taking this ship as _compensation! _Not only to cover my losses as it was quite a unique vessel you destroyed without being provoked I might add, but also as a provision for saving your lives! Hadn't it been for us, your people would have all _died_ down there!"

Grissom was about to object when Bishop interrupted him.

"You will find that the communique I sent to the Pentagon will report that the _Athena_ was officially destroyed together with the two complexes on the ground and is considered a write-off. Unofficially, these people found the ship intact and made the right to claim it by salvaging it under the decree of 'Finder's keepers'. The _Athena_ is no longer any of your concern."

"Don't sweat it," Ripley said. "I happen to know that the Seiyu Group in Tokyo has another Humanitarian ship standing ready to be launched. I'm sure they'll be happy to sell it to your government. The seized assets from the staff members should be enough to cover the costs."

Grissom shook his head in dismay as he went back towards the escort cruiser through the airlock, not sure how he was going to explain this to his superiors.

The rest of the evacuation proceeded smoothly. The wounded soldiers who were able to walk assisted the medical personnel to bring their comrades who weren't able to stand on their own feet onboard the other ship where they would be put in the hypersleep capsules during the trip home. Ripley avoided meeting their eyes. The one sole soldier who was in no need of medical treatment at all approached the 'renegade' people who supervised the evacuation.

"Corporal," Paige Rogers greeted Hicks.

"Airman," Hicks greeted back. "You're going home to face the music, I hear."

"Somebody has to tell the investigators the perspective of what happened down there from our point of view. And since I am the only survivor of my unit that was stationed at the research complex, it falls on me."

"I hope they won't be too hard on you," Hicks said with genuine concern. "Some will probably say that you abandoned your post and went against your superiors… That's a court martial offence."

"It is every soldier's sworn duty to disobey illegal orders and report the egregious misconducts," the female replied. "Those creatures being bred were very egregious indeed, and I couldn't risk them spreading to the civilian population. Like any virus or germ, they should have been exterminated the moment they broke confinement. But instead the staff sent dozens of soldiers in to die… if that doesn't justify my rebellious act in the eyes of the investigators, then the hell with them. I'll take the dishonorable discharge from the army for all I care. I'll find something else then to do with my life.

"But for now, from one soldier to another, I want to thank you for saving my life, and to say that it has been an honor serving under you, even though I technically _did_ outrank you!" The Airman smiled saying this, and Hicks returned the expression.

"You're one heck of a soldier, Captain. Had circumstances been different, I'd welcome you to stay onboard with us."

"I've got a husband and two sons waiting for me. Thanks to you I will see them again."

Hicks raised his hand to his forehead. "Have a safe journey home, Captain Rogers."

The woman returned the salute. "Have a safe trip, Corporal… wherever you're going." She gave a respectful nod to Ripley before stepping through the airlock and leaving the _Athena_.

* * *

After half an hour, everybody that was left from Jacob McHagen's personnel that had come to LV-426 had disembarked to the other ship, and the cruiser decoupled itself from the _Athena_ and set its course for home… and for some of them, to their just fate. The handful that remained behind were now left to settle into _their_ new home – they had the humanitarian ship all to themselves now. Hicks was planning to do a little exploration when his radio crackled.

"- Hicks! I want to see you and Ripley in my office immediately!"

"Chill out, Doc," Hicks replied into the mike. "This ship is not under military jurisdiction anymore. First things first: we need to familiarize ourselves with this vessel – I'm sure I can find the time stop by when…"

"- Maybe I wasn't perfectly clear - I will see you two in my office… RIGHT NOW!" Then she signed off abruptly.

Johner grinned. "Sounds like the doctor is seeking to advance to captaincy herself."

Adrienne Kinloch had decided to stay onboard the Athena. She had after all quit in protest after discovering what McHagen was up to, so she had nowhere else to go. Because of her reputation, and with a family-member having broken healers' sacred code, it was unlikely another laboratory would accept her had she gone home. Ripley and Hicks had accepted her, but that didn't mean the doctor could start to boss about them or any of the rest of the crew around. Hicks was going over in his head how he would tell her off on the way down to the infirmary, but before he could open his mouth as they entered, Doctor Kinloch, who was sitting down behind a desk and holding a pad in her hands, beat him to it.

"What the hell did you _do_ to that poor child?!" she asked angrily.

Those words made both Hicks and Ripley to stop in their tracks. Was this about Newt? "W-what do you mean?" Ripley asked.

"When she was resuscitated from her long hibernation, I had several tests conducted on her to determine her health status – but I never got the chance to review the results before McHagen sent me over to the other complex. I'm looking at them now, and I've made some rather _disturbing_ discoveries!"

"What's wrong with her?" Hicks asked, feeling a lump form in his throat.

"I'm afraid she's ill – terminally."

The floor felt like it disappeared from underneath the two adult's feet. "No…" the woman squeaked. "_No!_ You said she was going to be _fine!_"

"From the radiation contamination, yes… but this goes deeper than that! I need to know what happened to her _before_ that! What happened to her 200 years ago?! Why was her chest cut open?!"

Ripley had trouble finding her voice. "She… died." The two told the doctor everything, leaving nothing out. When they were finished, Adrienne shook her head in dismay.

"I'll never know how she found the strength to stand on her feet after all that. No wonder she's so withdrawn." The doctor half threw down the pad on the desk. "Ripley, aside from the autopsy, your actions to take her body out of cold storage of the morgue allowed necrosis to take place. She's got a _brain damage! _She has the emotional life of a six-year old. That's normal now since that's how old she is, but that's the level it will remain even if she would reach adult life! Her brain won't evolve past this point!"

The two adults were silent for a moment, taking it in. Then Hicks asked lowly: "Is that what's killing her?"

"No. What's killing her is an effect caused by an organ failure. She's suffering from panhypopituitarism – or PHP in short. It's a rare condition in which the pituitary gland stops making most or all hormones. It's a very vital organ as it controls metabolism, growth, body composition, reproduction, blood pressure and many other vital physical functions and processes."

"Her metabolism? Is that why she doesn't have any appetite? Why she doesn't eat?"

"Among others," Adrienne confirmed.

"How did it happen?"

"This condition may be caused by a tumor on or near the pituitary gland, infection, stroke, injury, surgery, or radiation therapy. The MRI-scan I took right after she was thawed up showed that the deterioration had already begun to commence even before you deep-froze her, so I suspect that some of the combined stresses she endured during your time on the _Hercules_ have something to do with it, her having contracted gangrene and all. It could be because of the necrosis as well, but I wouldn't rule out that some infected blood from the gangrene spread to her brain and messed around with it. But it was definitely the freezing hibernation that in the end shut the gland down completely! As it was already affected, it couldn't handle the process."

Hicks' shoulders sloughed even lower. "Then it is _my_ fault! I was too busy with fighting against Colonel Decker when I should have been helping her to heal from her injuries!"

"You are both in some ways responsible for her condition, but I don't want to see you wasting time blaming each other! What I need to know from you is: how far are you willing to go to save her?"

"What kind of a question is _that?_" Ripley almost shouted. "I'd do _anything!_"

"As would I!" Hicks seconded. "I'd give my own _life_ for her!"

"I don't need you to die for her… but I do need you as donors. The two of you are in a unique position to help her, thanks to your _alien_ enhancements."

"How so?"

"I am a biologist, so naturally I did take the opportunity to have a look at Bishop's disc after Newt had accessed it, and despite the lethal nature the xenomorphs carried, their physiology were quite extraordinary. All their individual distinctive cells had the capability to regenerate themselves, and that is the key to Newt's survival. Ripley, because of your mixed heritage by both alien and human origins, your hormones is of a hybrid bland. Genetic adaption should therefore be possible. I want to isolate some of yours and implant them into Newt's damaged pituitary gland. I'm hoping by through some gene therapy, I can make them incorporate themselves within her organ, repair it and start production of hormones anew. But to do that, I need to create new neural pathways to her brain - and that's where you come in, Corporal. I overheard Bishop telling you that when he pumped a compound called the 'royal jelly' into your body, some of it travelled to the reticular formation in your brainstem and made some changes, giving you the ability to communicate with the aliens."

"Yes…?" Hicks said, not certain where the doctor was going.

"Did you know that the pituitary gland is connected to the end of your brainstem via the hypothalamus? I want to take a sample of your reticular formation with the cells of the 'royal jelly' and transplant it into Newt's. If I can enhance her brain, the alien cells will seek to communicate with the hybrid hormones and thus create new pathways to do so. Once it is done, her brain will once again be able to communicate with her pituitary gland, informing it of her bodily needs and start producing the necessary, and in this case; _boosted_ hormones once more. I've already done some computer simulations on the procedure, and it looks promising. If it works, she will be a healthy little girl once more."

"She'll be cured? Then what are we waiting for?" Ripley asked impatiently. "Let's do it!"

"Hold on!" Adrienne halted her. "Before we do anything, you have to be aware of that there will be some _consequences_ for everybody!"

"What kind?"

"For the two of you it will be an uncomfortable extraction, because I need you to be _awake_ during the procedure! I can't have anesthetics dampening the most active cells I wish to take out!"

"Oh. And… what of Newt?"

"I wish to emphasize on the 'little girl' part! You're already a full adult woman, Ripley – I won't be able to reproduce any growths hormones. In other words: Newt's growth has been stunted - she won't get any bigger than she is now. And there is no way I can repair her brain damage - she'll always have the emotional life of a six-year old. But on top of it all, there will be another side-effect - although it is one that will be quite fitting, and maybe in a bizarre way favorable to her condition."

"What?" Hicks asked impatiently, feeling jitters in his stomach.

"Throughout some cases in history where PHP is concerned, middle-aged men with this condition have been known to still look like _teens_ in their faces! Even if Newt lives to a ripe old age, she will keep on looking like the child she is – especially since the new hormones will help keeping up her vitality and not let it deteriorate by the process of aging. You might say that she will be forever young, never to grow up."

Ripley and Hicks looked at each other, hardly believing what they just heard. "You mean that what we got… is what we will always _have?_"

"Literally." Adrienne confirmed. "Both in body and spirit."

"But… she will be healthy?"

"Without a doubt. The xeno-enhanced hormones will give her a long, healthy life for a child, better than what normal cells would have."

Hicks looked a Ripley again. "Well… the choice is really easy. It's either having a forever child or not having her at all."

"Hold up there," Adrienne interrupted again. "You can't just make a choice like this out of a whim. Newt may be a child, but I know just as well as you that she is way smarter than the average kid. That certainly is her greatest advantage, her being as wise as an adult. She should therefore have a say in this. Don't forget that she hates the aliens – it's probably that feeling alone that has kept her going despite her illness. She may therefore not want to do this. You should bring her here and talk to her. She has the right to make her own choice!"

* * *

Of all the things Ripley had ever done in her life, waking the little girl up and bringing her to the infirmary to tell her that she was sick and dying was the hardest thing the woman had ever had to do. The words kept getting stuck in her throat, and she was close to breaking down. One would expect that the child would break down in panic and start to cry as well, but Newt did none of that. She just sat there on the examination cot listening, not saying anything, and did not change any expressions at all. It was like she already knew that she was dying and had accepted it. It was hard for the two adults to look at her. Now that they knew of her condition, they saw how frail, pale, and thin she really had become. It was like looking at a living corpse. It took a while before the girl finally spoke in a low, detached tone.

"Back in my colony, before it was destroyed, I was never really in a hurry to become a grown-up… now you're saying that I never will?"

"The injuries you've sustained were much more severe than I had first thought, sweetie," Adrienne told her in a much more compassionate tone than she had used with the adults. "There are some things that just can't be repaired. But that doesn't mean your life has to end. That is the one thing I can fix, if you'd just let me. You can still live out a full life… although it will be a little different than you had expected."

"I'll be a kid forever."

"There are things you will never get to experience… you'll never reach puberty, and you'll never get to start a family of your own… but there are some upsides too… You'll be free to experience your extended childhood in any way you like. You won't have to take on the adult responsibilities… and you'll never get too big to crawl in the cramped airducts."

"But you want to put alien stuff in me!" Newt shot back. "I don't want that! If you do that, I will _never_ be free of them! I rather die!"

Adrienne was not swayed by the child's outburst. "Newt, sometimes in order to overcome your demons, you'll have to face them head-on. If you take those genes, they'll become such a natural part of you that you will feel more at peace, and allow you to forget about the fear you felt for them. If you control them, they will no longer be able to control you."

"She speaks the truth, honey," Hicks said. "I too was disturbed by what that 'royal jelly' had done to me, but I hardly think about it anymore."

Ripley stepped forward, looking at the girl with the eyes of a mother, and speaking in a tone that was only concerned for the welfare of the young. "Baby, look at me. You know what I am. I know that you are afraid to become like me, or even become like them. But you can tell that despite the genes in me, I have regained the part of me that was always human. And if I could do that, then so will you. But you will never have to worry about going through such a trial. That which will be put in you will only be a very little small portion of what I am – it will never be enough to do anything bad to you. I know that you will always remain the same little girl that I love… that _we_ love!" she added, looking over at Hicks.

"It won't matter to us that you'll remain a little child forever," the man said. "No matter what, we'll be there for you, and we always will."

The girl suddenly looked at them so sharply that they were taken aback. "You'd _better!_" she said with a point. "Since it was the two of you who _did _this to me, you're going to have to be responsible for me from now on! Which means that if you wanna be my parents, you'll stop _fighting_ over me like you've done!"

Ripley and Hicks glanced at each other, never having imagined that the girl had actually noticed their previous disagreements where she was concerned. There was no hiding anything from this child.

"You are the adults," Newt continued. "…and you're supposed to set a good example for me! So no more fights… okay?"

"We swear, sweetie," Hicks said.

"We promise, baby," Ripley concurred.

"And… I won't hear a word from you telling me to grow up if I end up doing some mischief, as it will be _impossible_ for me to do so! You get what I mean?"

Adrienne had to work hard to stifle a laugh in the back. She definitely understood now why it was so hard to not like this little girl.


	42. Full circle

"I'm getting the distinct feeling that you are _watching_ me!" Johner growled as he entered bridge of the _Athena._ "I'm seeing your mugshot around every corner!"

"- I _am_ watching you," the face of Call said from the monitor. "- But don't feel singled out… I am in fact watching everybody and everything. That is my function now as my program has become integrated with the main computer of this ship. I'm seeing every corridor simultaneously, that's why you see my face in every TV-screen you pass. Don't think for a minute that I take some perverse pleasure in following your footsteps. If it wasn't for the fact that I don't trust you, I certainly wouldn't bother."

Johner sat heavily down in a chair before the main control board and started to fidget with some controls. "Wasn't that tin-can Bishop supposed to build you a new body like his and get you out of the ship's systems?"

"- He offered to do it, but I turned it down."

"Why?"

"- Believe it or not, I like it in here."

"How does that compute?" Johner asked rudely. "I thought you didn't like being a toaster! But you like being one big flying fucking hospital?"

Call didn't show if she took any insult of the pirate's words. "- It's actually quite liberating. I'm like a flowing mass in space, free to move around however I please. It's actually a relief to no longer be limited to roam through only confined areas within that fragile crude form I used to have."

"Such poetic nonsense," Johner snorted, still moving his hand over the touchscreen. "And it's not like you're really moving around. We're still floating above this fucking rock!"

"- We're not breaking orbit until Dr. Kinloch has completed her operation. She doesn't want risk being disturbed by some outside interference in such a delicate procedure."

"How's it going in there?"

"- Why do you care?"

"Just curious." The truth was that Johner had his own appointment with the doctor, and he was eager to get it done.

"- Do you want the progress status, or do you want the meaty details?"

"Give me a break, Annalee! I just want to know how much longer they're going to be in there?"

"- Not much longer. The doctor's about to wrap things up."

"Is the kid going to be all right?"

Call looked at Johner suspiciously from the monitor. "- Again: why do you care?"

"Hey, kid's got spunk. Even I can see that. Would hate to have to flush her out the airlock like with this butthead." On a small screen on the control board, Johner had a view into one of the airlocks… on the floor within the small space there was a man-shaped bundle of white wrappings. It was the body of Zack Ryan. "Time to throw out the garbage!" Johner declared, holding his finger above the button that would open the outer hatch.

"- Aren't you going to say anything?" Call asked. "- Give a few words about his passing?"

"You serious? Why would I wanna do that? But… okay! Bye-bye, you fucking runt! Sure ain't gonna miss ya', you pussy!" And then he hit the finger on the button. Zack Ryan's body was sucked out into space and was tumbling towards the atmosphere of LV-426 where the gravity soon would grab hold of the mass and have it burning up through reentry.

"You know, Hicks threatened to leave him to rot on this rock," Johner said as he watched the body disappear out of sight on the screen. "Truer words were never spoken."

"- Such a waste…" Call remarked. "- He could have done something better with his life."

Johner huffed as he got up from the chair. "Ripley was right: you really _are_ the asshole model! Don't get all mushy over him, Annalee. If you're going to give a sentimental speech over that dumbass, I'll dump the main computer with your program out of the airlock as well!"

"- You know, just because I don't have mobile body anymore doesn't give you the right to fuck with me!"

"And just what are you going to do about it, Annalee?" the pirate mocked her. "It's not like you can do anything to me, can you?" He made a gesture of turning his rear against the monitor that showed Call's face.

"- Oh, no? You assume too much, Johner." From a power-socket imbedded in the wall, a low-yield charge of energy suddenly erupted like a bolt of lightning and it stung the pirate on the part of his behind that would hurt him the most.

"YIIIEEEOOWWW! _What the fuck…?!"_

"- Don't get smart with me, Johner. As I told you: I _am_ watching you! Don't forget: I _am_ this ship! And there's certainly more than where that came from if you don't behave from now on! You have no idea what I can do to you!"

Johner looked at her face on the screen with resentment and concern for this new development while he rubbed his rear. "Is this going to be your payback for the times I screwed with you?"

Call smiled. "- As the saying goes: there's a new sheriff in town!"

* * *

The surgery was done. The two adult donors shouldn't really be up and about after the discomfort of extraction of their respective body cells that had been transplanted into the little patient, but Ripley and Hicks insisted on sitting by Newt's bedside to be with her during her recovery just the same. Unlike the two adults, the girl was sleeping it out, having been the only one to get anesthetics.

"You know, I'm really breaking protocol here," Adrienne told them while she checked all the instruments that was monitoring the child. "You shouldn't be allowed near her this shortly after surgery – especially since her immune system has been so dangerously degraded. You two should be resting."

"This is resting for us," Hicks told her calmly. "We find sharing some time and space together with…" He threw a glance at Ripley. "Hrm…_our_ daughter to be very relaxing."

"And her recovery will go so much smoother if she knows that we're here, watching over her," Ripley filled in.

"Hmm… we'll see about that," Adrienne mumbled while making a note on her pad. "Can't exactly speculate about it. Psychiatry is not really my forte. I work with germs and meat, not with the minds."

"Then speculate about her biology," Hicks asked of the doctor. "How long until we see the effects?"

"We'll need some days first to make sure that her systems doesn't reject the new cells. And to see if the cells are willing to settle down in her and begin production. There's a lot of work for them to do."

"How long until we know?" Ripley asked.

"Maybe in a week, give or take a few days," Adrienne replied almost nonchalantly. "Don't worry, I'll keep a constant watch on her. But rest is all that she needs now. That gives me time to deal with another appointment…"

"Where are you going?"

"I have another operation to make. I made a promise to Johner before we evacuated the safehouse. No matter how much I dislike it, I have to honor the deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"Sorry. Doctor/patient confidentiality forbids me to discuss other people's medical issues… but don't worry - you're going to find out what it is about after it is all done." And with that she left. Ripley and Hicks were now alone with the sleeping little girl. Ripley's hand was continuously caressing the blond unruly tresses. The strands of hair were as wild as Ripley had always seen them and those didn't seem to want to be tamed. It looked like this was going to be a permanent condition as well as her stunted body development.

"You said that your alien-enhanced senses have been reduced back to human levels after you managed to drive back and bury your demon within your mind," Hicks unexpectedly brought up.

"That's right?" Ripley answered, wondering where Hicks was going with this.

"Not all of it seems to have gone away… my own extra-perceptive reticular formation can pick up some of your thoughts. In a way you're being a bit selfish." There was no accusation in his tone – only a mere statement.

"What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously, looking over at him through squinted eyes.

"You don't mind at all that she won't grow up," Hicks delivered. "I can sense that you prefer her this way."

Ripley felt like she had been caught red-handed while committing a crime. That was exactly what she felt… and it truly was a selfish thought - but it was also a bit of a self-preservation. She took a while before she answered. "It was her youthful innocence and her enormous survival instinct that touched me so the first time I saw her in Hadley's Hope. That's the first impression that has always been with me and what made me love her. And it is the innocence of the child she is that gave me the strength to beat Raksha and which now gives me the power to keep her buried. I'm sure Newt would've become a lovely woman and I would keep on loving her… but I fear that with the innocence of her childhood behind her, my walls would eventually crumble and Raksha might re-emerge. But now she will always be a child… and like this she will always be my greatest strength as well as probably my greatest weakness."

Hicks smiled. "In a way I guess I can understand that… but it might be best not letting her know this."

Now it was Ripley who smiled. "Knowing her I'd say that she _already_ knows. And if she doesn't, she will eventually pick it up by her own. She's always been good with seeing through lies, but I suspect it's going to be impossible to keep something secret from her after this operation. If her reticular formation becomes as enhanced as ours, she'll be able to pick up some of our thoughts as well, just like you were able to pick up mine just now… just like I'm picking up _yours._" Ripley fixed her eyes on the former soldier. Almost everything of her extraterrestrial abilities had gone away together with Raksha, but there were still some remnants left. "How come you're thinking of Michael Weyland of all people?"

Hicks didn't try to deny it. "I've heard that you met him briefly, before you… well, just before you died."

"I did."

"Did he ever tell you why he was so intent on getting his hands on the xenomorphs? Why he wanted them so badly?"

Ripley voice was filled with a bit of anger. "He didn't say. He just tried to give me some bullshit on how he'd had reevaluated his actions and wanted to destroy the beast I carried. I didn't believe him and I was correct. The last thing I heard him cry out to me somewhat desperately was that I had to let him have it. It actually felt good to deny him his wish."

"I'm sure it did," Hicks said calmly. "Because by denying him the creature, you sentenced him to an early death."

"Excuse me?"

"Bishop told me the whole tale when we were onboard the _Hercules_. It was referred to as the 'Weyland curse'. It was rare for the members of the Weyland clan to survive to a ripe old age – they always succumbed to a sickness that killed them prematurely. They were all obsessed to find ways to beat death and keep living on forever. Michael Weyland firmly believed that the aliens held the key for eternal life."

Ripley scoffed. "What a ludicrous idea!"

"That's what I used to think," Hicks said. "But now I'm not so sure anymore… I mean: look at her." He was indicating to Newt. "We're saving her with the help of alien cells. If the doctor is right, then not only will the new cells make her well, but they're also expected to give her a long healthy life. That is what made me think of Michael Weyland."

"I fail to see the connection?"

"Don't you see, Ripley? It's the _biggest_ irony of _all_: Weyland was _right!_ The xenomorphs really _did_ hold the genetic key to a long-lasting healthy life… perhaps even a cure to most maladies… and we destroyed them all!"

Ripley wasn't sure if Hicks was feeling a slight sense of guilt… but she certainly would not. "The price for acquiring them was too high. _Much_ too high!" she said with finality.

"We're in for a nomad life travelling through space for an eternity because of it," Hicks declared. "The three of us are the last known source for the alien genetics in the whole galaxy. We can't settle down anywhere with the risk of somebody tracking us down in order to get their hands on the genetics we carry. This ship is our home now!"

"The accommodations sure could have been worse."

"I say… I took a moment to look through the schematics. If you look past the fact that this is meant to be a ship to help the sick, then this is one damn luxury yacht with all of the latest state-of-the-art equipment to provide all kinds of necessities. It even got a small swimming pool below…"

"Then we got what we need in both materials… and company." She was still caressing the girl's head.

"I only pray that the transplanted cells will work," Hicks said.

That was Ripley's main concern as well. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she had for the last hour been concentrating, attempting to send her own signals out to the hormones that had been transferred to the child from her, trying to instruct them to get to work. She had no idea if it was working, especially since most of her abilities had been severely reduced after getting rid of her demon… but she intended to keep on doing it until she saw some sort of change. She would do no less for her child, her little girl…

Newt was too down under from the anesthetics, but Ripley still wanted her to know how much she loved her. In the back of her mind, she formed a thought… or perhaps it was a feeling. The xenomorphs had communicated in a way humans had no precise description for. But Ripley formed this thought, and directed it to the sleeping form in case her reticular formation had gone through enough change to receive this signal. It took a moment… and then the sleeping girl seemed to make a small smile. Ripley became instantly excited.

"She heard me!" she gasped, overjoyed. "She heard me speaking to her mind to mind!

"I could tell that she did," Hicks said, he too being all smile, and convinced now that everything was going to be all right.

* * *

After four days, Newt was back on her feet like if she had never been sick at all. Adrienne Kinloch had referred this to as a medical astonishment, (she refused to use the word 'miracle'), because the doctor had not expected a change to come as quickly as this. The new cells had adapted to her body without any problems, and had set out the task to provide her with everything she needed from her 'refurbished' pituitary gland. Newt's appetite was back, but she was on a strict controlled diet. Her stomach was shrunken after having been without food for so long, so she would need time to adapt to avoid her falling ill if eating too much nutrient-rich solid sustenance too quickly – but she was expected to do so quite soon as well. After all, she needed to as there were a huge amount of bodily nutrients that needed to be replenished. Now Jones the cat could step back from persuading her to eat like he had done earlier, as he only had managed a few successes in the past.

Now as Newt was well enough, and with nobody else raising any objections, the _Athena_ was finally about to break orbit from LV-426 and head out into space. All the grown-ups were on the bridge supervising the flight-preparations. Newt was not forbidden to be there – she had just opted to stand by herself next to a viewport in one of the corridors to watch the planet disappear behind them, so that she could say her farewells in private. She was absent-mindedly fondling with the polysizable screwdriver in her hands while she in her mind summoned the memories of some people from her past.

"Goodbye, Mom… Dad… Timmy… Fixer…" she whispered as the ship began to move out. Those were the people whom had been very important to her in life, but all whom had died on this accursed rock. But she was much more confident now that she would be able to let go of her grief for those who had been lost to her, and was ready to face the future. Things had become so much different. The people she said goodbye to were part of an old life - the future she faced now was a completely new one in every sense.

Newt wasn't just healed – she was reborn. Those cells she had received from Ripley and Hicks had worked wonders – she was feeling better now than she had ever did since the aliens came into her life, both in body and in mind. In a sense it was the two adults that had given her a new lifeforce, their jointed efforts, generosity, and love having resuscitated her. To her that truly made them her new parents in every way Anne and Russ Jorden had been. Okay, she was limited: she would never grow up to be an adult, and she would always hate the fact that the new cells in her body were of alien origin – but she believed she would be able to adapt. This here was after all her place now, her one special role in the universe: to be an anchor to Ripley's sanity. By being young and innocent forever, the childish unconditional love she provided to her new mother would prevent Ripley's alter-ego personality of Raksha from ever re-emerging. It was an extremely important life-task, yet an easy one to do. She only needed to be there for Ripley – nothing else was required of her. In return she would have the love and comfort of a family. Newt could live with it.

The farther out the _Athena_ was travelling in space, the smaller the world on which she had been born shrank from her view. Soon she would no longer be able to see it, and never was she to lay her eyes on it again. The aliens and the ship from where they'd come were gone, and their business with the planet being done. No one aboard ever wanted to return there. The forbidden world was a place of death, and they've had more than their fair share of it. The Zeta II Reticuli system could keep it! The humans aboard would make their destiny elsewhere, as far away from LV-426 as the _Athena_ could take them.

After twenty minutes, only the sun was still visible, but not the world once known as Acheron. Newt let out a breath of relief as she now was finally free to close this chapter in her book. She wiped away a small tear of both joy and pain for what she had left behind. Hicks saw this as he had just come down to look for her.

"Are you all right?" he asked in his typical soft self-contained voice. But she did recognize the evident concern in his eyes, and Newt smiled at that. She knew just how to read her new father, especially since she could now pick up some of his innermost feelings towards her as well.

"I will be," she assured him. "Just got some mixed emotions…"

Hicks smiled back. "Understandable. Ripley… well, your Mum will be down later to meet us in the mess room. She will just do some last verifications of the ship's status. While we wait, do you feel like a game of Tic-Tac-Toe with your old man?"

Newt put on a feigned mischievous smile on her face. "Are you sure you want to? After all those times I crushed you?" she said as she pocketed the screwdriver that was her most treasured possession after the cat. She still didn't consider it hers and she never would – but she was its keeper, and she was going to guard it for as long as she was able. She owed that to her friend the tool used to belong to.

Hicks was all smile. "Ah, but this time I've thought up a new strategy I've been wanting to test…"

That turned out to have been a wasted effort. Hicks stared in disbelief at Newt's victorious row on the small board.

"Wanna have another go?" the child asked innocently.

"I think I should teach you to play chess," Hicks mumbled while drumming his fingertips on the table they were sitting by in the mess room. "Maybe that ought to level us out a bit…"

"I take it we have a gamemaster onboard?" Adrienne Kinloch said as she sat down opposite them at the table with a steaming mug of coffee.

"Just one of her many talents," Hicks confirmed.

"Like I said: I'm the ace!" Newt said proudly.

"I thought they called you a 'cheater'?" This came from Johner who had just come in. "You don't think that's her secret?"

"I _resent_ that!" the girl replied indignantly.

"Your new looks sure hasn't improved your manners," Hicks said with a hint of a warning in his tone. The scar that had disfigured Johner's face was gone, having been repaired by the dermal regenerator as was the deal the doctor had made with the pirate in exchange for bringing the invaluable equipment when they had escaped from the safehouse.

"And yet this is my most _charming_ side!" Johner returned with a not-so-pleasant smile. He went over to the ship's food dispenser. "Hey, Call," Johner called as he knocked on the food delivery hatch. "Give me a lager, will ya!"

Call's face showed up on nearby monitor next to the occupied table. "- I'm _not_ serving you lager!" she said somewhat irate. "- What kind of an artificial intelligence do you think I am? I run the ship, I'm not your personal servant! Punch in your order to the autochef yourself!"

"Hey, Doll-face… to me you're nothing but a robot, and robots were made to serve humans, so get a move on it, you pixel-head!"

"- I'm a what?" Call asked.

"You heard!" Johner returned. "Now what about my lager?"

"- Okay, Johner," Call replied. "- I'll make a special treat just for you."

"Better," the rude pirate implied. After a short while, the delivery hatch opened and a pint with a dark-yellow liquid was brought out. "Ah, that's more like it," he said as he brought the glass to his lips. But then he grimaced. "Yeech, it tastes _foul!_ What did you make this up with?"

"- I took the liberty of using the base liquid in your ale from a special tank to spice up the taste a bit," Call replied neutrally.

"Well, that didn't work out so well, did it? What the fuck did you use?"

"- I hooked it up to the emergency tank, which is fitting for a baboon like you! Instead of using water, I mixed up your lager using recycled urine."

Johner went pale in his face, looking ready to retch. He was grateful that he hadn't swallowed anything.

"- I did warn you not to screw with me," Call said.

"You had better return the pipes to the correct manner before I order some coffee, Call," Ripley said as she came into the mess room, together with Bishop.

"I'll never look at beer the same way again after this!" Johner complained while pouring the liquid out. "You've _ruined_ it for me!"

"Well, there's plenty of other beverages you can choose from," Adrienne said dismissively.

"And risk having Call spoil them as well? I think I had better stick to my own brew from now on! At least she can't ruin that!"

"Not on my ship, Johner!" Ripley stated as she punched up a cup of coffee on the dispenser machine. "There's going to be some new rules around here!"

"What exactly was it that made _you_ captain again?" Johner challenged.

"I'm the captain for the same reason I was captain aboard the _Betty_: I'm the only one with the qualified experience to run a ship through space. The rest of you were only along for the ride while others did the actual steering. Have you all of the sudden gained knowledge on how to operate this vessel past star clusters and such?"

"No," Johner was forced to admit.

"Then I suppose I've made my point?" Ripley said with a slight edge to her tone while she picked up her coffee.

"Some things sure doesn't seem to change," Johner muttered.

"Trust me, things will be better from here on. Now, sit down… I'd like to have eye-contact with all of you."

Grudgingly, Johner sat down at the table that was already occupied by the others… as did Bishop. From somewhere Jones had come in as well, and he jumped up on Newt's lap to be cuddled with.

Ripley had come to a full circle. When all the mess with the aliens started 260 years ago, she was a member of a crew of seven aboard a ship somewhere in deep space. And here she was again under similar conditions – only she was the captain now instead of Dallas. But she had fashioned herself with a reminder of her time on the _Nostromo_. After having lost her leather sleeveless jumpsuit, (which was just as well since she didn't want to be reminded of her former wilder self,) she had the automatic clothing machine sew her up a new set of garb she had been comfortable with from that time. She was once again wearing a grey-blue coverall with a marine-green shirt underneath like she had on the _Nostromo_ – the only addition was that she was also wearing a brown leather pilot-jacket she had found somewhere. Ripley smiled as she glanced over at Newt, because naturally the girl had opted to match her own outfit to her mother's – only her jacket was of a simpler pale navy-blue variant.

There was one more carrying a blue coverall like theirs, and that was Bishop. It was kind of spooky to look at the synthetic, because he was right now a ghost of the past. During the past days he had been busy reconstructing his face, first by modifying a prosthesis of a head by carefully applying synthetic muscles to the 'skull' that would help to mimic facial expressions – and then he had covered the whole thing using the dermal regenerator. A wig completed the image. He was once again a corporeal duplicate to his designer Michael Weyland, looking like he had onboard the _Sulaco_ before the alien queen had torn him in two. Only if you looked underneath the coverall he wore and saw the parts of his complete body prosthesis would you know his true nature. Ripley didn't dwell on the android's appearance of a dead man though. It was actually quite fitting since they were _all_ ghosts on this barge in one way or another. She, Newt and Hicks were according to all documents dead since the year 2179 - yet here they were. Bishop and Call were both officially decommissioned; Bishop after the crash on Fiorina 161, and Call because of the recall of the Autons… yet here they were. Johner had chosen a pirate's life and had lived outside the system. He was a wanted man and was not welcome into any community… hence he was a living dead. And Adrienne Kinloch had lost her commission and would not be welcomed anywhere since her family name was tarnished and disgraced by the deeds of her father… hence she was a living dead.

Ripley sipped her coffee and then began to address her new family:

"I can honestly say that I never would have imagined to end up having a crew like this. It's a real mix of past, present, and even future." She began to walk around the people before her, passing by behind the doctor first.

"I've got a new acquaintance," she said while gently squeezing the other's shoulder. "…albeit it is one that has already proven her value, and whom I'm willing to get to know better.

"The doctor represents people of the future, while the next ones represents people of my present." She walked up behind Johner and brought down a knuckle on his shoulder. "You certainly wouldn't have been my first choice to have onboard, and if you want my further approval…" Ripley grabbed the cigarette Johner had just lit from his mouth, threw it to the deck and stomped on it. "…you're going to have to _change_ a lot of your habits!"

Johner's choice of words for protest was not suitable to sensitive ears. Ripley ignored him and continued her round.

"There are some changes that _I_ will have to get used to as well," she said, tapping with her fingers on the monitor that was visualizing Call's disembodied head.

"The people who represents my past are among them one whom I was reluctant to trust first time I saw him, but was proven wrong." Ripley made a show of knocking her fist on Bishop's shoulders, although she hardly hit him.

"One I never expected that I would work with again…" She squeezed Hicks' shoulders passing by him, a little harder than she had done with the doctor, but with appreciation. "...and the last is one I _never_ would have wanted be without, or even _could_ be without." The adult's hand affectionally caressed the child's left shoulder and it continued over the neck through the tangle of honey-blond locks and then on to the right shoulder as she passed by. The girl smiled back as she felt the love of the other flow into her. It made her feel that she had finally come home.

"I even got a bonus." Ripley leaned down as if to scratch the cat who was still sitting in Newt's lap on its head… but then Ripley unexpectantly flecked her finger and tapped the girl on the tip of her nose. "Tag! You're _it!_"

"Hey! _Cheap_ shot!" the girl objected with a feigned anger that couldn't be hidden by her giggle. Newt had the boardgames with Hicks, but with Ripley she had the play of tag. The challenge was to catch the other unprepared and hit her nose with the fingertip. It was an enjoyable game for the two of them.

Ripley kissed the girl on her brow before she stepped back up to her first spot. "I can start by telling you that I have corresponded with our two resident androids and I can inform you that the ship is functional within all parameters. It will sustain us for a long time, which is exactly what we require. I bet that you wonder where we're headed – and the answer is: wherever our course will take us. Hicks told me that we're in for a nomad's life, and he's correct – we don't belong anywhere except here, on this ship. Which is why we need to create our own little community – our own command-structure."

Ripley glanced over at the ship's only other adult woman. "Doc, you're our natural choice for a science officer and ship's doctor. I trust you will keep a close eye on our health?"

"As long as you don't ask me to do any psychological evaluation of any of you," Adrienne replied.

"Bishop will have a supportive position to yours, alongside his other duty. I've appointed him Liaison officer. Every minor little incident we live through is to go through his mind as he has the ability to cross-refer them to things we may have a need to know about. He's the one saying that knowledge is power… well, the more he knows, the better I feel. Now, Johner…"

"If you put me on latrine duty, I'll do _mutiny!_" the pirate warned. "And I won't be _nice_ doing it! My job on the _Betty_ was after all to _hurt_ people!"

"That's the thing, Johner…" Ripley said tiredly. "I've given it careful thought, and the truth is that we don't know what we will face out there. You knew weapons alongside Christie – so I'm offering you to be the Weapons- and Security officer!"

Johner looked up in a delightful surprise. "You really mean it?"

"Basically this is a humanitarian vessel, but as it has been under military jurisdiction, so there are weapons onboard and we do have some cannons along the outer hull. Your job is to make sure they work."

"Weapons- and security officer!" Johner said excitedly. "That's quite a high rank! That makes me the number two around here, doesn't it?"

"Nope! Bishop is number two. But for my number one senior first officer after me: that is none other than Hicks! His military expertise and leadership experience makes him the perfect choice for that. You'll be answering to him! In fact _everyone_ will answer to him if I happen to be indisposed!"

"Bloody hell!" Johner grew sour again as he realized that he was still going to be the lowest ranked of them all. "I _knew_ it was too good to be true."

"I haven't mentioned Call," Ripley continued. "…but that's because her program is integrated to the ship. Everything the _Athena_ knows, she knows, so she will have her hands full keeping it together and keeping us moving."

"What about me, then?" Newt spoke up, looking like she was left out. "What will I be?"

"You're the Captain's assistant, honey," Hicks told her. "You're her personal Morale officer. That's a very, _very_ important position. You'll be 'working' closer with her than any other of us ever will."

"That's very true," Ripley said, smiling. "You will be the only one who'll have the full privilege of unrestricted access to the captain's quarters any time of the day." It was a joke of course. Ripley had already claimed the only neighboring indoor-connecting living quarters on the _Athena_ for the two of them and the cat. It would be their family home where Newt would have her own room next to her mother's. Hicks' quarters was just on the opposite side in the corridor outside so that the girl could go over to him any time she liked.

Newt's mood brightened a little bit. "And who do I get to give orders to, hmmm?" she said, batting her eyes towards Hicks. The man became instantly nervous all of the sudden. It wasn't at all impossible that the girl knew exactly how to twirl a father around her little finger, and that was something she would never grow out of. He sure was in trouble now.

* * *

EPILOGUE

The _Athena_ left the star system of Zeta II Reticuli, never to return. Left behind was the barren planet of LV-426, once known as Acheron, that was nothing more than a lifeless rock, devoid of anything alive… with one exception.

From the smoking ashes of the pyre that had vaporized the last remnants of the alien derelict, a large skeletal being broke through the surface and slowly rose to its feet. The alien king had been so severely wounded that it had lied dormant for days in order to regenerate, and it still wasn't fully healed. The chitinous hide was still badly burnt, and the wings were nothing but withered stumps protruding from its back. Standing in the middle of the sea of ash, the alien king stretched out with its mind to find any other of its kin. It found none. He was all alone. The first had truly become the last. Even the essence of the rogue queen was gone, the last trace of her disappearing far beyond his reach. The alien king turned his malformed head towards the dark sky and he let out a high, inhuman screech. He shrieked out his absolute rage and his lust for vengeance. But the howl went unanswered and vengeance would never be his. Planet LV-426 was a forbidden planet because of the radiation swimming in the atmosphere – no one in his right mind would ever come here, especially not now when everything that was once considered worth attempting to salvage no longer existed. The alien king would have no choice but to go back to its previous state, to go back into hibernation by wrapping a cocoon around itself until such time when somebody would cross its path again.

That wasn't likely to happen though, because as time would pass by, the horrors that had transpired on the planet of LV-426 would within the next coming centuries fall into complete oblivion, and the knowledge of the monsters that had once ruled this world would become nothing else but some dubious legends…

THE END

* * *

Author's notes: I'd like to express my thank-you's to everybody who has reviewed and to everybody who has taken the time to read this story. I hope you have all enjoyed it.


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